engleski

Vegan vs. meat: Categorization of plate waste in restaurants

The purpose of the paper was to determine the quantity and composition of plate waste left over after the guests had consumed their meals in a res-taurant that serves only vegan meals and in restau-rant that serves dishes including food of animal origin. Both restaurants are located in Zagreb (Cro-atia) and the sample size was 500 plates. After meal consumption, each component was weighed sepa-rately. Subsequently, in-depth interviews were conducted with restaurant staff members. Out of the 500 plates served in the vegan restaurant, 377 were empty after the guests had finished their consump-tion. The remaining 123 plates contained 6, 951 g of plate waste. In the restaurant that serves meals containing meat, 264 out of the 500 serving plates remained empty. The remaining 236 plates contained 20, 966 g of plate waste. In addition, it was assessed whether the size of the portion caused an increase in amount of food waste. Namely, when portion size was larger than 410 g more plate waste was generated, but at the same time also more food was eaten. The results and research methodology could act as a useful guide for decreasing plate waste in restaurants and invoke a possible change of eating habits.

Food waste, plate waste, restaurant, in-depth interviews, portion size

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