“Grab your chopsticks,” said the folder that fell into my hands during a promotion for a Japanese restaurant in Rio. I’ve been raising this issue of the volume of sticks in wheels around here for a while. In cities like London, there are “baguette clubs” where customers leave their baguettes at home, in small boxes with their name on them, in neat outfits. So they pay less on the bill. The issue excited me, because our accumulation of waste is only growing: around 80 to 90 million tonnes of waste per year, with a very low recycling rate, around 4 to 7.5% of the total.
Take the example of the consumption of Japanese dishes in Brazil, which is only increasing and is at the top of the most ordered foods on delivery platforms. On iFood alone, there were nearly 4 million sushi orders per month throughout the year.
Little by little, I am seeing good ecological practices here. These wands represent piles of trees below. In China, 80 billion pairs of chopsticks are manufactured each year.
At Temakeria Rio they suggest you take chopsticks. Great initiative. And in houses like Minimok, Pabu KoBa, the chopsticks placed on the tables are like cutlery: they return to the kitchen, are washed, sterilized and reused. That’s it…
“We’ve been using chopsticks since the beginning. We treat chopsticks like other cutlery and only use disposables for delivery. Reducing the waste we produce, offering better chopsticks, making the experience more enjoyable… we’re always looking to make izakayas more and more authentic. The Japanese generally use wood, ivory or – like ours – BPA-free polystyrene, while stainless steel is what I tend to see more among Koreans”, explains Luís Petit, from Pabu.
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