Should There Be A Penalty For Wasting/Not Finishing Your Food?

There is a Saudi restaurant that is taxing those that order at their restaurant and do not finish their food.

BTW, the summary of the link is about why this particular place is doing this, as not to derail the thread with what they consider against their religion, I am posting this to discuss if this is a good idea and should we implement this in the West or/and other countries.

The restaurant is charging customers who fail to eat everything on their plates, claiming that wasting food is contrary to the principles of Islam. Not everyone sees it that way.
Many children have been told that they have to clean their plates because people in other parts of the world go to bed hungry. But a restaurant in Dammam, located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, has taken action against those who do not completely finish their meal. Customers who order more than they can eat are fined.

digitaljournal.com...


With the amount of food that is being wasted all over the world especially countries that have a not so high level of hunger amongst their people (which this is worldwide, but you couldnt tell in most places), is this a good idea, if so why? and if not, why?

I remember some years back there was a lawsuit in the US about a family that went to an all you can eat restaurant, and they were thrown out for wasting most off the food that they took from the tables, plate after plate they left food and kept going back for more.

40% of U.S. food wasted, report says

Forty percent of food in the United States is never eaten, amounting to $165 billion a year in waste, taking a toll on the country's water resources and significantly increasing greenhouse gas emissions, according to a report from the Natural Resources Defense Council released this week.

The group says more than 20 pounds of food is wasted each month for each of 311 million Americans, amounting to $1,350 to $2,275 annually in waste for a family of four. Think of it as dumping 80 quarter-pound hamburger patties in the garbage each month, or chucking two dozen boxes of breakfast cereal into the trash bin rather than putting them in your pantry.

news.blogs.cnn.com...

What do you think would be a viable way to end this disgusting habit? There are so many people that are hungry, not that the food that we do not eat will go to their stomachs, but throwing it away is just as bad as us eating it in front of them and not sharing.

Peace, NRE.

Government intrusion and force into people's personal lives is almost NEVER the answer. The best thing a government can do is to support education and do more to fix the problem on a larger scale, rather than to interfere in people's private lives. They could do more to use the food we have, get it distributed to people who need it and do more to feed the homeless and hungry with that "leftover" food.

Originally posted by NoRegretsEver

The restaurant is charging customers who fail to eat everything on their plates, claiming that wasting food is contrary to the principles of Islam. Not everyone sees it that way.
Many children have been told that they have to clean their plates because people in other parts of the world go to bed hungry. But a restaurant in Dammam, located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, has taken action against those who do not completely finish their meal. Customers who order more than they can eat are fined.

digitaljournal.com...

Its religious based. Says so right there.Taxes based upon religious beliefs? Not in this country.
What they should do is institute a "Fat tax" Add an extra little something to the cost of food at places that serve grease smothered in grease and topped with lard. Washed down with a diet soda. You know, most fast food joints. It may not cut down on waste, but it will darn sure cut down on waist sizes,

reply to post by Benevolent Heretic


Im sorry I should have clarified "tax" its the restaurants policy not the government, this is a fine that the restaurant is adding for the food being thrown out.

Peace, NRE.

Great! Then make a tax for people being fat. That's surely against religious tenets as well. Is there anything religion isn't against? In the US it's not a religious thing, it's a government thing.

If we had this penalty in America I could never go out to a restaurant to eat. So many restaurants serve food on what can only be described as a turkey platter-HUGE meals! I mean who eats that much?
I usually find myself apologizing to the servers-they think I didn't like the food. I ask for a take-out container and I'm set for the next day.

Yes..let's tell people what they can and cannot do with the food they have purchased. While it would be completely wrong to throw out good food..if a person had paid for it..I figure they can dump it on the ground if they want.

I really don't need anyone telling me one more thing I should or shouldn't do..who has the right? I just don't get how one human being can tell another what he or she should be doing..it's ridiculous!

Anyhow...like others have said..the portions are too large and if you cook at home most of the recipes you will find are for large quantities too. We have a family of 4, usually when I make a recipe that I have found online..it's enough for 6-8 people..I have to cut the recipe down..

reply to post by NoRegretsEver


I should have read more carefully.

I certainly wouldn't eat at a restaurant where they charged me extra for not eating the amount they decided to serve me! I rarely eat out anyway (haven't for 2 years) so they wouldn't be losing much business with me. And like others have said, if I pay for the food, I should be free to dump it in the street if I want to. Not that I would. I LOVE leftovers.

Here in Vegas it isn't ALL a waste. A HUGE portion of buffet leftovers get trucked over to the massive pig farm outside of town, where hogs feed on it about at graciously as the original buffet-goers that had it first.

But to tax someone because they can't finish a meal, F that.

Great idea, food waste is appauling. Not a GREAT idea though.....

Eating more than you need to should be the priority though as penalties for not eating what's on your plate will just promote obesity.

Fine the fatties with big bellies, not the ones who have eyes bigger than their bellies.

I'd be fine being charged less for smaller portions. Kind of like the steak platter. 8 oz steak vs. 12 oz steak, different prices. Or, large chef salad vs. small chef salad, different prices.

Originally posted by nerbot
Great idea, food waste is appauling. Not a GREAT idea though.....

Eating more than you need to should be the priority though as penalties for not eating what's on your plate will just promote obesity.

Fine the fatties with big bellies, not the ones who have eyes bigger than their bellies.

Yeah, that makes sense.... because fat people cause other people to go hungry, right? Care to explain how this is the case?

If fat people started eating less there wouldn't magically be food available to starving people. Less food would simply be purchased, and the manufacturers would simply produce less food.

It's ideas like these that cause problems in the first place.

If you want to help the hungry, how about the government ALLOW people to help starving people.

There are countless instances of people trying to help the hungry and they are unable. Like the church group trying to feed homeless people that gets kicked out of the park by the police for not having a permit. You need a permit to feel homeless people. Or how the food bank and some other organizations who have the supposed goal to feed the hungry are so incredibly picky about the food they get, or the manner in which they get the food.

But, but all means, just blame fat people, because that's real helpful.

Originally posted by fourthmeal
Here in Vegas it isn't ALL a waste. A HUGE portion of buffet leftovers get trucked over to the massive pig farm outside of town, where hogs feed on it about at graciously as the original buffet-goers that had it first.

But to tax someone because they can't finish a meal, F that.

I'd say they should send it to the shelters first.

Originally posted by tinker9917

Originally posted by fourthmeal
Here in Vegas it isn't ALL a waste. A HUGE portion of buffet leftovers get trucked over to the massive pig farm outside of town, where hogs feed on it about at graciously as the original buffet-goers that had it first.

But to tax someone because they can't finish a meal, F that.

I'd say they should send it to the shelters first.

Yeah? Sounds like a great idea to me. Half eaten plates of delicious and expensive food sounds good to me, and I'm not hungry or homeless. Unless people did something nasty to their plate before leaving, the food is still perfectly good.

But this is what I was talking about in my previous post. I'd bet money that either the homeless shelters will NOT take the food, or that there is some state law that prohibits such an action.

That's why I was saying the best way to help the hungry is to ALLOW people to help them. If I was homeless I'd have no problem accepting some left-overs.

Originally posted by James1982
Yeah, that makes sense.... because fat people cause other people to go hungry, right? Care to explain how this is the case?

If fat people started eating less there wouldn't magically be food available to starving people. Less food would simply be purchased, and the manufacturers would simply produce less food.

It's ideas like these that cause problems in the first place.

Read, think, respond. You completely missed my point didn't you?

I wasn't talking about the hungry, I was talking about those who consume more than they need. Not so the hungry can be fed more, but so the obese and overweight eat less.

And producers wouldn't just produce less food, they would work harder at creating demand and it is THAT which we need to sort out.

You are talking about diverting food to the hungry, I was talking about stopping the greed by overconsumers.

I never even mentioned the word "hungry" so please DON'T (try and) put words in my mouth.