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Strange and unusual
Our photographers sometimes capture moments that are strange and offbeat. Here's a recent sampling. Slideshow
Restaurant tells diners to eat up or else
SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - An Australian restaurateur fed up with the waste left by diners has ordered her customers to eat everything on their plates for their sake of the earth or pay a penalty and not return.
Chef Yukako Ichikawa has introduced a 30 percent discount for diners who eat all the food they have ordered at Wafu, her 30-seat restaurant in the Sydney suburb of Surry Hills, that describes itself as "guilty free Japanese cuisine."
"To contribute toward creating a sustainable future we request a little more of our guests than most other restaurants," she says in a list of her restaurant's policies that is pinned on the door to the eatery.
This list includes finishing all dishes ordered which are organic and free of gluten, dairy, sugar and eggs and the chef and her staff tell people who don't clear their plates to choose another restaurant next time.
"Finishing your meal requires that everything is eaten except lemon slices, gari (sushi ginger) and wasabi," says the menu.
"Please also note that vegetables and salad on the side are NOT decorations; they are part of the meal too."
Wafu's strict policy has been welcomed by some but criticized as overbearing by some reviewers. Ichikawa is undeterred.
"Wafu is not just a restaurant; it is an extension of Yukako's personal ethos toward nourishment and sustenance," says a statement on the restaurant's website.
"We are not only committed to serving meals that nurture and respect the body but are actively dedicated to the notion of waste prevention, and take seriously our responsibility toward the environment and sustainability for the future."
(Writing by Belinda Goldsmith, Editing by Michael Perry)
How stupid! Really, if it’s actual food then it’s biodegradable. Hardly a threat to the Earth. You can easily dump out a ton of food and it will, eventually, be a nice bunch of very nutrient rich dirt. If anything, she should demand everyone eat off of glass plates and use actual silverware, cloth napkins, and other things that can be reused.
It seems to me that either the portions are to l a r g e or the food isn’t too good.
First: It is not about the food being biodegradable or not; it is all the energy put in the food, all the resources, the water, the transportation etc that went into producing the food that you then let go to waste.
Second: perhaps Ichikawa should adopt doggy bags as a way to let people enjoy his food later on?
Is it a high rise building…the top floor?
Is “chop sticks” classified as a weapon, do one need license
This was how I was raised, and I think it is a marvelous idea. There is far too much waste in our world today. Bravo for the restaurant!
What an idiot. Does a car dealer tell you where you can drive the car you bought from them? If you’re paying for the product(food)then you can eat it, put it in your pocket or take it home to your dog. The chef doesn’t get to control the food AFTER they’ve sold it to someone else.
Seems as if megalomaniacal behavior is alive and well in the Australian restaurant industry. What ever happened to the customer is always right? If I travel will I need 3 references and a thumbdrive containing my carbon footprint?
Remind me to stay away from this place. Do they tailor the size of the portions to the size of the customer?
While it is a shame that affluent countries waste a lot of food which immigrants are appalled with, the argument that hey you have paid for it, so you can do whatever you want with it is so anti-earth.
Same goes to idiots who water their lawns endlessly during a drought.
This guy should have taken a less stern action, he may end up being a Kamikaze Sushi Nazi ?
