MARCH 2019 | 5
AN INTERACTION
WITH CHEF
RAHUL KARN
Rahul Karn is the Co-Founder of The Food
Post. He had completed his graduation from
Institute of Hotel Management, Gurdaspur,
Punjab. And now he runs his own Continental
& Indian Cuisine Cafe.
"Food waste is a bigger problem than many
people realize. In fact, nearly one-third of all
food produced in the world is discarded or
wasted for various reasons. At this time that no
one seems to want to talk in the country about
this topic but it's a horrendous problem. Food
is the one product type that everyone
consumes, and while a surprising number of
people don’t have it." said Rahul Karn.
"How all this food is wasting?" I asked him.
"We need to look at the whole food supply
chain. When we talk about food waste, we
don’t only mean what we (consumers) throw
away, but also what stores don’t sell and then
discard, what restaurants and hotels waste and
what manufacturers and farmers lose along
the way."
Rahul Karn told me, "The causes of food
waste is stages of producing, processing and
consuming. Mainly caused by economic
behaviour, poor stock management or
neglect."
What a person can do in daily life to limit food
waste?" I asked him.
"There are many ways to food waste
minimisation.
Shop smart, store food correctly", learn how to
preserve food, use the leftovers, don't over-
serve food and if you have excess food after a
party donate it to the food banks.
"What do you do to reduce food waste in your
cafe?" I asked him.
"We avoid over buying stock, store food
correctly, check temperature control, label
food correctly, practice stock rotation at a
regular time, keep stock inventory, donate
leftovers food in local charity, give the
customer more menu options, train employees
to reduce waste.
Before ending the Interview I asked Rahul
Karn for some final word.
"In two words: Buy less. Or at least shop
smarter. Most of us don’t think we waste any
food, because it disappears quickly into the
trash or down the disposal but we (Indians)
don’t use 25 percent of the perishables we
bring home. With that statistic in mind, it
probably makes sense to buy less food. One
way to do that is to make more frequent, but
smaller shopping trips. If that doesn’t work
plan out meals, make a detailed shopping list
and this is easier said than done stick to it!
And Remember, food wasted by you could
have fed a hungry child. Think of the steps you
can take to avoid food wastage.