Do you allow anybody eating with you to waste food at restaurant or home ? Thai wasting food...

[aber]

Hello,

I just wonder if any of you still let any Thai waste food as an habit ?

I do not talk about someone not feeling well one time and not finishing his dish.

I am talking about Thai ALWAYS ordering more than they can eat and ALWAYS wasting dishes at restaurant.

This is not acceptable and nobody eating with me is allowed to do it, because I am the one who control what they order anyway.

But I wonder if for some other foreigners in Thailand it is acceptable ?

I also often see Thai going to restaurant, ordering 1 dish, eating 3 spoons and leaving, so why did they go to the restaurant ?

Is it because of the Thai way of not being able to plan anything in their life ? Even a dinner ? Are they really unable to know how much hungry they are and if it is time to go to eat ? Really want to slap them when I see them doing it...

Any idea to help be to understand what some might call cultural difference but that I call stupidity ?

And before anybody tries to explain me that when someone let some food in a dish it means that he is happy and not hungry anymore (full), I know about this, but when this person is eating alone and only eat 3 spoons, what is the reason to order food that he doesn't eat ?

[Old Fool]

Sounds like they are excited that you are paying and so order a lot of items that sound good and can't finish them...

[stoneyboy]

I pity anyone who has the misfortune of dining with you.

[rocketboybkk]

I say get them to pay

I bet it'll be rice & 1 other dish that'll be eaten

Most Thais are greedy especially when farang pays

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[johnatong]

Just another pathetic attempt at Thai bashing.

The OP can solve his problem by eating alone ---------------who would want to share a meal with such a person ?

[stoneyboy]

The ironic thing for me is from personal observation they can be some of the least wasteful people when it comes to food,I have witnessed a bowl of Larb moo being consumed and it took nearly 6 hours with plenty of Thai whisky in between.

Food is plentiful in Thailand I agree and I have witnessed wastage as well but let's be fair the amount of time and effort put in especially in a family setting for new year and other occasions there's hardly a clean plate left and they eat eat eat.

Also my ex girlfriend wouldn't hesitate to have the remaing Pla Nin or left over Khao Phad bagged up ready to take home and eat the next day or take to a relatives house.

The most we ever wasted at home was the jasmine rice which always went to the ducks and wasn't really wasted.

[berybert]

When I go to a restaurant I worry about what I am going to eat and drink. I couldn't give a damn what the person on the next table is eating or whether they eat it all or not.

I would be much more likely to slap someone who is watching what and how much I eat.

Is it your culture to be such a nosey person ? or are you just some busy body who cant help himself ?

[CharlieH]

When I invite someone to eat with me they are free to do as they choose. "Allow" doesnt enter into it, and your aggression at wanting to "slap" everyone just highlights your own issues.
Perhaps they only eat a few mouthfuls to be polite as they would rather not be there at all due to your attitude and it puts them off as you make them so uncomfortable........possibly.

In my experience they are the least wasteful of food and on the rare occasion there is anything left it is "doggy bagged" and taken home.

[SoiBiker]

I don't generally seek to control Thai people's behaviour.

[daveAustin]

While I have seen such a scenario of over-ordering, it is generally done as a gesture to accommodate all guests. Also bear in mind that, in the Thai home environment, it is considered bad form for a guest to empty their plate, which suggests that they weren't fed enough. Less emphasis on it nowadays, but if you're invited out or to someone's house, best to always leave a bit on the side.

Op, can understand if those around you are taking the mic, but let's face it, you is a control freak. Suggest dining alone.

[geriatrickid]

I don't generally seek to control Thai people's behaviour.

You don't know what you are missing.

Controlling the locals is very important. They cannot live without the rigid teutonic direction of the superior continental European.

Hopefully, this chap doesn't walk along the road to the beach where we are as there are always papaya, mangoes and bananas which have fallen to the ground. I fear he would force the locals walking by to eat them.

[KittenKong]

If the OP is over 55-60 and from Europe he may have been brought up in a time when food (and a lot of other things) was scarce and people were still living with recent memories of rationing and shortages. I was, and I also find it very hard to throw anything away or to be wasteful or even to buy anything that I dont really want or need. My brother is 10 years younger than me and is the complete opposite as by the time he was growing up mass consumerism had taken hold and "you had never had it so good".

So to answer the question, yes it would annoy me if someone wasted food that was bought (assuming it tasted OK). Stupid people who dont know what they are doing always annoy me. But would I show my annoyance? No. I'd much rather eat alone anyway and that way the problem simply doesn't arise.

Edited May 17, 2016 by KittenKong

[1FinickyOne]

Maybe the food was awful... me, taught that kids will starve in India if I do not clean my plate, would eat it anyway... gotta help the kids - and I have an extra bunch of pounds stored for when they would like to come claim it...

I actually see the opposite. I live with poor farmers - they do not waste food... they know the value of every grain of rice after a lifetime of growing it... they do not eat out with us often, but with a table of ten people, my MIL was upset at leaving a few spoons of rice on one of the plates...

Though I don't know how you can allow or not allow it - probably takes the fun out of dining out for them...

[Berkshire]

What a ridiculous complaint. Does the OP prefer his date keep eating to the point of throwing up? When I take the GF out to dinner, I let her order what she wants and let her eat what she wants. I do the same. Sometimes we clean our plates, sometimes we don't. This is not such a big freakin deal. Geez.

[Koosdedooes]

A dinner party with the OP must be a hoot...you vil only be allowed one potatoe of medium zize, precisely 35ml of gravy,and one pork chop weighing exactly 50gms...any deviation from these instructions vil result in you being taken outside and shot

[Shot]

OP would probably have an aneurysm at a buffet.

[anto]

>>If the OP is over 55-60 and from Europe he may have been brought up in a time when food (and a lot of other things) was scarce and people were still living with recent memories of rationing and shortages.<<..He would have to be quite a few years over that and 70 years or close to remember rationing.I am 63 and from poor Ireland at the time ,yet we always had plenty to eat .

[GuestHouse]

I love the knee jerk accusation of the OP being a "Thai Basher" when there are clear indications that a whole range of cultural factors at play.

As others have noted it is not at all unusual for Europeans to have been raised to eat the food put in front of them, my own parents brought this into play as soon as we were old enough to serve ourselves or order for ourselves.

Its not just a matter of not wasting food, when someone else is paying its a matter of good manners.

Kenk24's observation regarding poor farmers eating all their food, especially their rice, mirrors my own observation. Rice is representative of the labour and hospitality of the host, it is ill mannered to leave it un eaten.

But like the OP I've seen many cases of Thai people over ordering food only to leave dishes completely untouched (not even tasted to see if the cook has made a balls up of the dish).

The common factor I've seen when Thai people over order is 'someone else is paying'. Occasionally I've seen this over ordering when they are inviting a third party, who they wish to feed/impress at the expense of their host.

My observation is that it is a mark of disrespect to over order at someone elses expense and that it would not happen if they had any real respect for their host.

Again I think the OP has made a very valid observation on cultural differences but suggest he has a hard think about his relationship with people who over order on his bill.

The OP is not wrong in his observation nor is he wrong to say he will not allow it. Most of us 'do not allow it' by not inviting such ill mannered and disrespectful people to eat at our expense.

The vast majority of people, Thai or otherwise, understand it is ill manners to over order at your hosts expense, simply choose better company.

[sipi]

I like puppy dogs,

But I can't eat a whole one.

[pgrahmm]

My wife was taught by her folks - don't buy big things, save your money for food....

The other day she'd made a fruit dessert and made a lot.....Our 15 year old took some & offered me some....My wife took her to task for taking too much - in essence telling her to take only what she can finish....

Multiple dishes are ordered when we are out - and yes they sample it all....Anything of left over of substance is brought home & eaten.....Either by us or the cats....

We don't lack for anything - and nothing at our house goes to waste.....Food or otherwise....

Most Thai people I know are like this....

If out eating & food is left on another table it's usually by the 20-isher's.....And it's usually not Thai dishes/food that's left....

Edited May 17, 2016 by pgrahmm

[anto]

My Thai wife and friends will over order every time if brought to a restaurant .( so its quite a few months since i last brought them ,but my wife usually goes halves lol) .They do eat it all though or else bring leftovers home in a doggy bag .

[joeyg]

I hate wasting food. I have seen to many starving people. However, I have seen many of my date waste food and it used to bug me. Now I don't care anymore. I don't waste water or power either. If you respect mother nature's resources, there is a "Karmic

reciprocation." And you will not experience shortage of anything in your life.

Living in Southern California for years we had TV Campaign's "If it's yellow let it mellow. If It's brown flush it down." Intending to conserve water. I don't flush every time I take a wizz. It bothers my Thai GFs. I tried to explain it to them but now I don't care and gave up on that too.

Will this fix the drought. Of course not. According to laws karma my chances of always having water are improved. Anyway wether you believe it our not. Wasting natural resources is a tragedy.

Flame away.

[manarak]

if I foot the bill for "dependents", which can include my own children, my GF of the day, her family, etc., my rule is: they pay for any dish that hasn't been eaten at least by half. that is also valid for drinks. I do make exceptions for bad cooking though.

[SoiBiker]

Do you guys make people fill in a written proposal for what dishes they would like to order?

[Gecko123]

While the OP clearly needs to take a chill pill, go with the flow, and enjoy the moment, yadda yadda yadda, I too have experienced Thais recklessly over-ordering food in a restaurant when I was paying, and I can empathize with him for feeling his hospitality is being abused.

Thai culture does seem to treat an abundance of food as a reflection of prosperity, hospitality, and well-being; a way to create a festive atmosphere and mark an occasion. Just look, for example, at the excesses of food brought to temple on holy days. My wife has a tendency to make excessive amounts of food as a way of showing love and taking care of her family. When neighbors give garden surpluses away it more often is a bag of 20-30 mangoes rather than 2-3 mangoes. That sort of largesse seems to be valued in Thai culture. So it could all be totally innocent.

On the other hand, some Thais may be so unaccustomed to someone else picking up the tab that when the opportunity does present itself, they go buck-wild and exploit the opportunity to the hilt.

I suppose it's also conceivable that people could be maliciously over-ordering and then scarcely taking a bite just to send the message they aren't interested in one's company. If that's the case, the only solution is to pick one's dining companions more carefully.

The only practical suggestions I have would be to discuss beforehand what will be ordered, perhaps channel the orders through one person in order to avoid a free-for-all when the waiter shows up, and consider ordering the food in stages instead of all at once, so people can better judge how much room they have left in their stomachs.

Happy dining to one and all.

Edited May 17, 2016 by Gecko123

[Stradavarius37]

Oh you poor guys and your problems...such a travesty...

[SoiBiker]

I guess it's probably fun to play the big man at first when you meet someone so poor you can buy meals for their whole family. Seems like you make a rod for your own back, though.

[Lannig]

Trying to control adult's behaviours is at least a challenge and possibly unwelcome.

As for children in my Thai family, yes, on this particular topic I've tried over the years to teach them to finish their plates with reasonable success.

It's even become a gimmick, a private joke in my Thai family to repeat my usual statement that "anyone who does not finish his plate will walk back home" when we go out eating in my small town.

I usually insist that we limit the number of dishes ordered in the first round, and add more later if anyone wishes so. It kind of works but this is with people from my first circle. Wouldn't do it with anyone beyond this.

[Squeegee]

Here's an education for you, OP: most Thais would not expect you to pay, would not treat you like a fool by over-ordering on your bill, and are not wasteful of food at all.

Stop taking prostitutes for meals, then you needn't judge a whole population based on what you "allow" them to do.

[JHolmesJr]

Controlling what people order and eat…that sounds positively Restauratarian.