How much food did you waste yesterday?

Kollam: A wayside restaurant at Karunagappally has shown the way to avoid the criminal waste of food. A board set up at the 'Nallabhoomi' restaurant at Valiyakulangara displays the amount of food wasted by its customers each day and the number of people who would have satisfied their hunger with that quantity of food.

The interior of the restaurant run by brothers Ryjin Prabodh and Vijil Joy of Karungappally has an environment-friendly theme. "The display board is part of our commitment towards society. We supply food to orphanages on the orders placed by people who celebrate events there. We have seen the value of food in the eyes of the inmates," Ryjin Prabodh told DC.  The quantity of food wasted would help its customers realise the hunger felt by thousands. "Therefore, we want our customers not to waste food," Ryjin said. The restaurant insists on the customers to order only the necessary quantity of food and not to leave without finishing it.

A post-graduate in tourism studies, Ryjin said the restaurant serves biriyani on plantain leaves in less quantity. "We serve rice and meat according to the customer's eating capacity to limit the food waste," he added. The display board has impacted the eating habit of the customers. "Initially, the restaurant had a food waste of over 20 kilograms which was gradually reduced to 10 kg on an average," he said. "Now people even pack the remaining food even if it is only a small portion," he added.

The name 'Nallabhoomi' or the 'Good Earth' itself reflects the noble idea of avoiding food waste.