A suspended meal or pending meal is a meal which people pay for in advance, to be provided to those that request it later. The extra meal that they purchase is suspended; that is, the restaurant will mark down the sum of money and ‘suspend’ the additional meal for the poor. Suspended meals today range from a cup of coffee to a meal set.
History
Turkey
In Turkey, a tradition going back centuries called ''askıda ekmek'', meaning "bread on a hanger” or “suspended bread" involves paying for two bread and taking one while the other is hung for someone else later.
Italy
The term in English originates from a tradition that started in
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
, called pending coffee, or in Italian, ''
caffè sospeso''. Customers would pay for their own coffee and when they wanted to, could pay for an extra ‘suspended coffee’ or a 'suspended meal' which was meant for the less fortunate. Thus, a person could walk into the cafe and ask if there was a suspended coffee that they could drink. The trend started in cafes of
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
, where people who had experienced good luck or people of
middle class
The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Com ...
would pay for an extra cup of coffee. Then, the poor would come by later and ask if there was any sospeso that could be given for free to them. Such trend has been adopted by other cafes and restaurants that now incorporate the concept of suspended meals.
Hong Kong
Suspended meals in Hong Kong are not as popular as they are in foreign countries. However, they are gradually becoming a trend. It started in a restaurant called Siu Mei Restaurant in Sham Shui Po (北河燒蠟飯店).
Originally, the boss, Mr. Chan gave out free meals to the poor in
Sham Shui Po
Sham Shui Po is an area of Kowloon, Hong Kong, situated in the northwestern part of the Kowloon Peninsula, north of Tai Kok Tsui, east of Cheung Sha Wan and south of Shek Kip Mei (). It is located in and is the namesake of the Sham Shui ...
, an impoverished district. The news of Mr.Chan’s act soon became publicized and
non-governmental Organizations started to cooperate with Mr. Chan to implement the suspended meal scheme. Slowly, more and more food stores, including bakery, dessert, and meal shops in Sham Shui Po adopted the system, too.
In 2012, a TV program called “Rich Mate Poor Mate Series” (窮富翁大作戰) featured Simon Wong,
the owner of LHGroup)
and expertise in
catering
Catering is the business of providing food service at a remote site or a site such as a hotel, hospital, pub, aircraft, cruise ship, park, festival, filming location or film studio.
History of catering
The earliest account of major services be ...
services. He spoke about his organization starting at the grassroots, and how he has strived to strengthen the
social responsibility
Social responsibility is an ethical framework in which an individual is obligated to work and cooperate with other individuals and organizations for the benefit of the community that will inherit the world that individual leaves behind.
Social ...
of his
chain restaurants by launching schemes of suspended meals.
Taiwan
In
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...
, several methods have been implemented to make the public more familiar with the concept of suspended meals. For example, there is a Facebook page, “Suspended meal, Taiwan”,
advocating the ideas of suspended meal. The owners of the restaurants can join this page and inform the people that their restaurants are supporting suspended meals. Also, there are photos and descriptions in the page; more details are exposed to the potential
consumers
A consumer is a person or a group who intends to order, or uses purchased goods, products, or services primarily for personal, social, family, household and similar needs, who is not directly related to entrepreneurial or business activities. ...
of suspended meals like the location of the restaurants and what kind of meals the restaurants are serving. There are also figures indicating the number of meals left in the restaurant.
Dubai
A Pending Meal
initiative
In political science, an initiative (also known as a popular initiative or citizens' initiative) is a means by which a petition signed by a certain number of registered voters can force a government to choose either to enact a law or hold a ...
was started on social media in April 2015 by Sarah Rizvi, focusing on restaurants in Dubai. Once the news of the initiative started to spread, many local restaurants were willing to tie up and provide their support too. The idea spread to other areas including
Sharjah
Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area.
Sharjah is the capital ...
,
Abu Dhabi,
Ras Al Khaimah
Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) ( ar, رَأْس ٱلْخَيْمَة, historically Julfar) is the largest city and capital of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. It is the sixth-largest city in UAE after Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al Ain ...
, U.S.A, Canada, Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan.
The Pending Meal movement encourages people to pay for someone else’s meal at a food outlet so the less fortunate can walk in and eat.
There is no limit to how much one can donate to the cause. “There have been people who have paid in advance for the meal of just one person and some have even paid for 15,” said Rizvi.
The Pending Meal initiative is not a charity organization and does not collect funds (in any form). The initiative is purely encouraging people to give back to community by providing less fortunate with a meal so that no one has to stay hungry.
Value
The value of this rising trend lies greatly on disseminating the attitude of
sharing
Sharing is the joint use of a resource or space. It is also the process of dividing and distributing. In its narrow sense, it refers to joint or alternating use of inherently finite goods, such as a common pasture or a shared residence. Still ...
and giving what we owe to others, so as to bridge the gap between the poor and urban people. However, it must be reminded that the phenomenon should not be viewed as a type of
social assistance
Welfare, or commonly social welfare, is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifical ...
. In other words, there is no labelling effect in the promotion of the campaign; the focus is not placed on the poor, but rather on the act of citizens suspending meals. This way, individuals can both respect the poor, and promote the natural attitude of
helping. Through the
collaboration of everyone, the poor can be integrated into the community and feel a sense of belonging. “It’s about communities coming together and looking after people directly in their communities.”, says John Sweeney, the founder of a page advocating suspended coffee, in an interview with TruthAtlas.
Critics
Business Ethics
Despite sharing the same
motivation, restaurants and companies have their own operation style in terms of promoting the suspended meal scheme. Because of such difference, some argue that the restaurant owners are trying to make profits by
cheating
Cheating generally describes various actions designed to subvert rules in order to obtain unfair advantages. This includes acts of bribery, cronyism and nepotism in any situation where individuals are given preference using inappropriate crit ...
on the scheme rather than helping the needy. Similarly, some people believe that the companies are more likely to cheat on the scheme since they will charge a sum of administrative expenses after holding the
fund-raising
Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...
events like suspended meals.
Effectiveness on Resolving the Poverty Problem
Some people argue that suspended meals cannot effectively ameliorate the poverty problem in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
in terms of effective implementation. A big proportion of the poor, in fact, denies to take the suspended meal because of their strong
dignity
Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically. It is of significance in morality, ethics, law and politics as an extension of the Enlightenment-era concepts of inherent, inalienable ...
. According to a survey conducted by Children Welfare League, 32% of needy children dare not to take free meal because they do not want to disclose
personal information
Personal data, also known as personal information or personally identifiable information (PII), is any information related to an identifiable person.
The abbreviation PII is widely accepted in the United States, but the phrase it abbreviates ha ...
and feel shameful.
Moreover, people may ask for a free meal although they do not have financial difficulty. In other words, the effectiveness of suspended meals cannot be fully estimated and guaranteed.
See also
*
Caffè sospeso
References
External links
Lists of Hong Kong restaurants implementing the suspended meal schemeCriticisms about the concept of suspended coffee
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Poverty activism