Waste Not-Want Not



You are already dead before the battle.
Yesterday I attended two weddings, one in the Kampung where i lie and the other at G-Hotel in the porch area of Gurney Drive. One was for the wedding of a childhood friend's son while the other was for the Son of my twin brother's in law a Chinese doctor married to a Malay. At one wedding it was an outdoor affair underneath three tents in the scorching midday sun while the other was held in a banquet hall of a five star hotel completely air conditioned. Sadly enough for me the food was the same for both venues as i have become lless interested eating, my appetite for food has become overloaded from eating so much varieties of food from day one till today that it will have to be one hell of an extraordinary culinary creation that will get me to raise my eyebrows whenever i eat these days. I would rather prefer to munch on peanuts and sunflower seeds or some crunchy fruits like the Jambu or guava or mangostine, my favorite fruit. I avoid chicken as much as possible and only eat beef occasionally in the form of a Tahi style soup with losts of ginger and black pepper- raises the blood tmperature.
The amount of left over food food at these events is phenomenal and i get a first hand observation of this as my home is also one of the major catering business in the state. Sometimes leftovers can be to the amount that can feed an entire community and most of it especially rice finds its way into the garbage bin and if fortunate enough will later be collected by the Pig Farmer who comes by late at night to sort out and take away what the pigs can eat. But this does not happen if the dump truck gets to it first. It is a sin how we waste especially food where all the ingredients and preparation and distribution from A-Z cost money and manpower. There is hardly or no recycl;ing programme of any kind in this state where food is concern and turning waste biodegradable products into compost or some other use is practically unheard of. I have been making it my effort to distribute leftovers from the catering business to the neighbors every chance i got as I hate to see pots of chicken curry being dump or fifty or sixty kilos of nasi minyak being left by the dumpster. But there is only so much that one can do to combat food wastage and as always the case, it is only when shit hits the fence as in the form of scarcity like during the Japanese occupation that people will wake up to realized what waste is.
If one can figure out as i did what goes into the preparation of a pot (large pot) of chicken curry (Ayam masak Merah) or beef curry ( Dagign Kurma), one can appreciate how much we waste by over doing it. The spices used in itself is phenomenal starting with the amount of cooking oil, then the various spices which in themselves are expensive and as it is becoming more and more hard to get as the world glut for these items are ever on the increase. Turmeric, Annis, Paprika, Nutmeg, to name a few ingredients that is thrown into the boiling oil, then comes the various other ready mixed spices, the Beef curry mis or the Chicken curry mix,followed by the cans of tomato soup and milk and coconut milk and the list goes on and on till the taste is acquired and the amount is enough to feed half a battalion of foot soldiers. It is always in the catering business to make more and avoid not having enough food to go around at the event.whatever the occasion may be. I have seen trays of food being returned untouched for one reason or another.
Will we ever be able to stop this form of wastage in the future? Perhaps, if each and everyone of us can take what is really enough for the stomach and not cater to what the eyes sees and wants. Attending two weddings in one day is a good place to start to learn how to budget our intake and in Malaysia sometimes on a weekend one is invited to four or five weddings on a weekend and every wedding has to outdo the other in terms of food. Makan Kenduri or Feasting is a norm at every occasion such as weddings and open houses during the annual Ethnic celebrations such as Hari Raya and Chinese New Year or Deepavali is a norm in Malaysia, but on the other hand rising in food cost is also a big issue that all of us worry about day to day. Imported food related items is ever on the increase in this country as most arable land is devoted to fuel related items such as the oil palm industry and rubber being the major crops covering thousands of acres of land in Malaysia compared to food related crops. We import beef, chicken, and even fish from neighboring countries when in actuality these items could be found readily available here if the demand of these items were not so huge especially in times of festivities. Being frugal and not over expanding our guests list to such events can help towards curbing wastage whether we have a wedding in a small village or at a five star hotel. Those who attend these events too should be more conscious of how much they can consume and not leave a plate half full of leftovers when we leave the table. Gluttony is not a healthy habit even if there is plenty to eat.