Chinese restaurant investigated for food challenge

A restaurant in Sichuan is being investigated by authorities for allegedly violating anti-food waste laws by challenging customers to eat large amounts of food.

A restaurant in Yibin city is challenging diners to eat 108 chaoshou, a type of wonton dipped in Sichuan's signature hot and sour sauce, for a free meal and other rewards, Chinese media reported this week.

To attract attention, the restaurant advertised the “Big Belly King Challenge” on social media. However, Yibin city officials came to investigate whether the restaurant violated anti-food waste laws.

Eating competitions are relatively common in the West, but can be a sensitive issue in China, where a famine in the 1950s and 1960s killed an estimated 45 million people. Several restaurants have been investigated for hosting large-scale eating challenges.

Spicy wontons, a specialty of Sichuan province, China. Photo: Redhousespice

Chinese President Xi Jinping has described food waste as “shocking and distressing” and in March he said agricultural supplies were a cornerstone of national security.

China enacted a law against food waste in 2021, after the government harshly criticized bloggers who livestreamed binge eating to attract viewers. Many bloggers were subsequently banned from social media.

Under the law, restaurant owners can be fined 10,000 yuan ($1,400) if their establishments “encourage or mislead customers into ordering excessive food, causing waste.” Radio and television stations, as well as those who publish video and audio online, face a maximum fine of 10 times that amount if they are found to be involved in “producing, publishing, promoting programs or messages about overeating.”

According to the local market regulator, the restaurant in Yibin "displayed excessive eating behavior and caused customers to over-order."

However, some Chinese social media users say the authorities have gone too far.

"Is this considered wasteful? Why not let people compete to see who can eat the most? Does the food that is not consumed there really reach the poor?" one wrote on Weibo.

Another said the market regulator should focus on food safety, such as the scandal of contaminated baby formula, illegally recycled cooking oil contaminated with food waste or even wastewater.

Huyen Le (According to CNN )

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