Posted on 10/04/2024 2:17:24 PM PDT by nickcarraway
He said he can afford to buy his own food but doesn't want to waste food.
man has been spotted eating leftovers at Chinatown's People's Park Food Centre.
The 84-year-old man, Wang (transliteration), said he's not eating leftovers because he has no money to buy food — but because he thinks it's a waste to throw them away.
'The food is still warm'
Shin Min Daily News received a tip-off from a concerned reader, who said the man not only ate leftovers off the table but also went to look for food in the tray return areas.
However, when Shin Min reporter headed down to the food centre, they found Wang carrying a cup of sugarcane drink, a cup of orange juice, a bag of bananas and a packet of fried noodles.
They followed him to an area outside the nearby Chinatown MRT station exit, where he was seen taking out cardboard and placing it on the ground before nestling down to consume the noodles.
Wang told the reporter he lives in the Pasir Ris area and only started frequenting Chinatown a few months ago.
"I come here every day because it's lively," Wang said. "I do have a family and children, so I return home in the evening"
He admitted that he has the "habit" of picking up leftovers to eat, but not because he doesn't have money to buy food — he just doesn't want to see food go to waste.
Wang said he often sees people leaving large portions of food behind, such as half-eaten fish, plates of food almost untouched.
"The food is still warm," he said. "It's such a waste. That's why I eat them."
Not the only one
Wang is apparently not the only elderly person seen frequenting the food centre for leftovers.
A 52-year-old hawker who has run a stall at the food centre for more than 10 years told the Shin Min reporter that he sees three to four elderly people eating leftovers every day.
Others working at the food centre corroborated his account, pointing out that the elderly people eating leftovers often show up during lunchtime.
Wang himself also said he had seen other people eating leftovers like him.
"We eat each our own and don't interact with each other," Wang said.
Better to ask if you can eat the leftovers before people leave: Freegan group founder
In an interview with Shin Min, Daniel Tay, one of the founders of Freegan In Singapore, said that he would not encourage others to eat strangers' leftovers.
Tay said it would be unclear how long the food had been left in the open and if animals or pests had contaminated it, so it would have a higher risk of food poisoning.
While he would not encourage eating discarded food items, Tay advised people to ask diners if they can leave the uneaten food while they are still at the table and share their rationale for not wanting food to go to waste.
"Not only does this ensure that the food is clean and edible, those who provide the food will become more aware of the food waste they are causing."
Scoff if you will, but a few more years of the Biden/Harris economy, and a lot of us will be doing that.
This is Singapore, by the way.
🐭
He’s not hurting anyone.
I just hope it’s true that he does it out of choice and not necessity.
“Tay advised people to ask diners if they can leave the uneaten food while they are still at the table”
Yeah, that’ll go over real good.
Jordan H.Elite 24
Garden Grove, CA
Oct 22, 2022
9 photos
Huge hawker center in the middle of Chinatown, Singapore immediately next to the Chinatown MRT station.Not the cleanest. Not the most touristy. Not the most modern. But they have a great selection and amazing prices. You can expect to pay no more than $5 for a meal.
The first thing I noticed is now bustling this area was. Lots of locals, which made it easier to follow the crowds for the best stalls! We visited two other hawker centers in Chinatown on the same day (Maxwell Food Centre and Chinatown Complex Food Centre) and this one was by far the most lively. In fact, the other centers were a little dead compared to this one with many businesses closed.
Even though it was crowded, bit wasn't hard to find a seat and the lines moved quickly. My only complaint was the lack of cleanliness. This center is clearly on the older end, and the floors, tables, chairs were dirty and worn. Bring your disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer.
See all photos from Jordan H. for People's Park Food Centre
https://www.yelp.com/biz/peoples-park-food-centre-singapore
Of course it is at 2* latitude. Nothing gets cold. The temperature there never gets below 85. Too damn hot and humid in Singapore.
OTOH, if the public face is that dirty, can you imagine what the kitchen is like?
If the homeless people in NYC were more enterprising, they'd never go hungry. New Yorkers are constantly dumping uneaten food into the trash bins.
That’s by far my favorite hawker centre complex in Singapore. Yum yum yum!
I could use some now.
Odd how every year, influenza and other highly contagious respiratory viruses come from Asia and circle the Globe...
“The food is still warm,” he said. “It’s such a waste. That’s why I eat them.”
= = =
Clean your plate, people are starving in China.
In downtown San Diego, not at all unusual to see homeless eating out of the trash cans.
Some of the more thoughtful denizens would carefully set their leftover to-go boxes next to the trash cans so the homeless didn't have to dig though garbage to get food.
This is Singapore not NYC or LA. People in Singapore are respectful , disciplined and kind. They have zero ghetto class nor tolerate verbal assault or physical battery. They will publicly cane people for such things. It’s nearly impossible as an American to get a perm res visa their they keep the riff raff out and Americans are certainly the rabble. They came people for chewing gum and leaving it in public. Needless to say people are very well behaved.
I would have zero problem walking up to a table about to leave and asking them to just leave their plates with leftovers. With added courtesy of returning the plates to the vendors for them. They use communal dishes not throw away plates you return them to a group kitchen for washing and they get passed back out to vendors once clean.
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