Clean off your plate! :)

Well, this article I saw in the NY Times the other day really made me sad. With the economy being what it is right now, and the prices for everything increasing like mad (I think grocery prices rose something like 2.9% within the last couple of months), it's impossible to read something like this, and not think "what the heck are we doing???"...

Last semester when I was teaching, my students had to break into groups and evaluate different services/places on campus, and come up with suggestions for what could be done to make things better. One group was assigned to "cafeteria services"...Apart from the usual complaints that cafeteria staff "hated students" and "had attitude problems" as they put it, the biggest observation they made was the amount of food that was wasted every day, both by students from their plates, and at the end of the day when the cafeteria was closed. They suggested that all the uneaten food should be packed and sent to a shelter or food bank at the end of the day. I know the cafeteria is doing something about reducing food wastage right now-like limiting the amount of food students can put on their trays, but allowing them a second entrance if they're still hungry. I'm not sure what happens to the food left over at the end of the day.

Anyway, I just wanted to share this article...And I loved that paragraph where "someone" commented on India's growing "middle class" food need. Hey wait, thanks to him, we have no idea what middle class is here anymore! Tsk tsk...