Diners called upon to donate meals

Updated: 2016-02-05
By Du Juanin Xi'an and Xue Chaohua in Lanzhou ( China Daily )

A sanitation man walks into a noodle shop in Lanzhou, capital of Northwest China's Gansu province.

It's-8 C outside, so he orders a traditional breakfast bowl of beef noodles to warm himself up.

Lacking the money to pay for the dish, the man simply points to one of the heart-shaped tokens pinned to the wall behind the counter.

"A meal from the wall", he says to the waiter, who removes a token and serves the man with all customary respect.

The sanitation man then eats his noodles and leaves without paying.

This is a scene that plays itself out at an increasing number of eateries across Gansu and the neighboring Xinjian Uygur autonomous region nowadays.

It is part of a charitable initiative, launched on Jan 28 in Gansu, that has seen more than 50 food companies and restaurants join together to offer free "meals on the wall".

Paying customers are invited to buy an extra meal when they dine, allowing others who are less able to pay to dine for free.

"The best part of this program is that everyone can participate and benefit from it," said Tian Weihai, president of Yieryi Food Co, which runs chain restaurants in many cities including Shanghai and Beijing.

"It is very simple, there are no standards of who can have the free meals. As long as a person needs it - even if he just left his money at home - he can use the meals on the wall. No one will ask why."

He said his company offered 100 meals on the wall at the start of the program and would continue to provide 50 meals a month in its chain noodle shops to keep the program running.

Yalikun Osman, the initiator of a similar program in Xinjiang, said he got the idea from the "coffee on the wall" concept, popular in some Western countries, which encourages good Samaritans to buy an extra beverage for someone less fortunate than them to enjoy at a later date.

"You don't know who you will help through this free meal," said Yalikun. "If you are the one who enjoys a free meal, you don't know who paid for it. Thus, you can enjoy it with dignity. We want to share this 'love with dignity' and pass it along."

In the beginning, there were only five outlets signed up for the program, but now more than 1,500 volunteers and 50 nonprofit organizations and companies have joined, Yalikun said.

In addition to noodle shops, some bakeries and beverage stores have also showed a willingness to join the program, he added.

However, concerns have been raised that - despite the best of intentions - it will take time to encourage those in need to make use of the free meals, and extra training to ensure waiters' tolerance.

Contact the writers at [email protected]

A customer has beef noodles at an eatery that runs the 'meals on the wall' charity program in Lanzhou, Gansu province, on Thursday. Xue Chaohua / China Daily

(China Daily 02/05/2016 page4)