（Control group)
I had observed and recorded people of all ages, but I found that the reasons they waste food are really too complex!!! Hard to generalize.
I therefore took the young people's section and compared them to the young people in Group A, focusing on the environment and how location influenced their food waste behaviors.
During week5 - week6, I went to McDonald's in Waverley Station and Princes Street to observe food waste.
In fact, I think McDonald's waiters are very helpful because they keep an eye on the customer's table and clear away the rubbish as soon as they leave, so there is a lot of material that can only be shown through my sketches and descriptions. I tried to communicate with them and ask them to let me finish photographing the leftover food, but I realized that this would disturb their work and gave up on this approach.
Princes Street: Most people have a more leisurely, afternoon break for a quick meal or a midday pick-me-up for those who come to shop and get hungry.
What I Found:
People stay for longer periods of time.
People's conversations at mealtimes are always slow and deliberate, and the venue is quieter.
People tend to chew slowly when they eat, and I observed the three tables around me: they were all in groups of four, stopping to say a couple of words with almost every bite. This lengthened their meal time considerably, and therefore wasted less food, as they needed food to 'garnish' their conversation on the way.
Most of the food they were wasting was uncomfortable to carry around, and I assume that they had other activities afterwards, such as trying on clothes (as the lady on the right mentioned), so it was not convenient to carry disposable paper cups.
Waverley Station: Most people have a need to hurry and come here to fill their stomachs before setting off.
What I Found:
People are in a less relaxed mood than they were in the Princes Street one, which was more crowded and the chatter was louder and faster.
There are more people eating alone in this restaurant, but they usually order more (than singles in the Princes Street branch), I guess maybe because they are worried about being hungry on the train.
I thought there would be a lot of people choosing to take away packs so that they could take the uneaten portion to the train, but in fact not many people did (except for those whose trains were about to leave and they couldn't make it to the dine-in)
A cafe in Kew Garden
Questions:
What is the relationship between people's level of food waste and their psychological state?
How does people's food waste relate to their schedules?
How does people's food waste relate to their eating alone and in groups?
How does people's food waste relate to whether they are talking or not?
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