AZİZ AKGÜL: 'SERPME' BREAKFAST CONTRIBUTES A MAJOR PORTION OF THE WASTE
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for Turks, and a weekend breakfast out is almost an exclusive event for many. You either opt for a few fixed dishes, all-you-can eat buffet or "serpme," a mix of specialties of a traditional Turkish breakfast. Serpme, which literally means "spreading," involves a wide variety of dishes spread on the table - often more than you can eat. It also causes more food waste, experts warn. Aziz Akgül, who heads the Turkish Foundation for Waste Reduction (TİSVA), says this breakfast "model" causes food waste totalling TL 100 billion every year - a significant figure that is enough to ring alarm bells when combined with wasting bread, another unfortunately popular type of waste in bread-loving Turkey. Akgül says serpme breakfasts evolved from a popular pastime into a culture of waste. Figures by TİSVA show Turkey wastes food worth TL 214 billion a year, or 12 million tons. Akgül says although Turkey is in the 65th spo...