Opinion | Let's have our mooncake and eat it, too

The Mid-Autumn Festival carries special meaning as a day for family reunions. A big dinner is one of its signatures, along with the taste of mooncake. But recent years have seen big festivals, including the celebration of the full moon, saddled with the negative association of food waste.

The latest survey by an environmental group shows that last year, on average, each family threw away 0.75 mooncakes, meaning two million cakes went into the rubbish, given that Hong Kong has 2.38 million families.

This phenomenal wastage has been the norm for years. Part of the problem is that not many of us, honestly, are big fans of the sweet festival treat, but it is a must for this special season.

It might be constructive to ponder a bit before we do our mooncake buying. Are they for our own consumption, or gifts for our loved ones? And how many can we, or our friends, really eat?

And it is not just mooncakes that Hongkongers have a reputation for wasting. It is interesting to note that mainland media have recently been pointing a finger at our habits when dining out. A commentary last week criticised Hongkongers "with bigger eyes than appetites", saying we tend to order more than we need in restaurants, especially seafood.

The article noted that Hongkongers' annual consumption of seafood reached 43 tonnes last year, 3.6 times the world average, yet much of that ended up as waste. It then called on the city to "reflect" on its eating habits.