Monday, February 23, 2009

The Tupperware tales. Are you a part of the movement?

There’s an underground community lurking in the shadows of Commercial Drive … and there might possibly even be one in your neighborhood as well. Kits, Surrey, Coquitlam … yes, this could very well include you. No, I’m not talking about gangs, drugs, or black-market gambling (although these very well could be affecting your neighborhood). I’m talking about something far more pervasive. More lasting. More contained. I’m talking about Tupperware, folks. Yep, that pliable, attractive, and very long-lasting synthetic polymer we’ve all grown to love and celebrate (for those of you who have never been to a Tupperware party … well, you were probably born after the 1970s. But you get the picture).

What was once a product that was primarily used to bring food made in the home out is now being used to bring food made outside the house in. And it’s a great, community minded, environmentally friendly thing, friends.

On the Drive, there’s a lovely little sushi joint I often frequent. Bringing sushi home in those horrendous plastic and Styrofoam containers was too much for my poor, sustainable mind to take. And an easy solution, so that I could continue to feed my sushi dependency and quell my urge to be friendly to our little planet, was to bring my own containers. Until a few weeks ago, I thought I was alone in this practice. I felt like an outsider. Like I should apologize for disrupting the to-go-sushi-making-flow. And then … I found another. Our eyes connected across the restaurant as we both held our Tupperware, proud and prepped to confront the plastic-loving staff. A sigh of relief, a smile and a nod.

So to all of you Tupperware-yielding restaurant goers out there … you are not alone. There are many of us out there, and with time and persistence, our practice may very well become the norm.

3 comments:

John Horn said...

Great post. Greater way to build community. Greatest way to save this planet of ours. And the coolest thing is that vendors fully embrace it when people show up with their own containers. Styrofoam is by far the cheapest option for businesses to use (not to mention the safest), so it's not going away any time soon. The only way to fight it, my friends, is to join Team Tupperware!

Kurt Heinrich said...

Tupperware is radical. And Japanese food is ideal for tupperware packaging. Way to spread the gospel Michelle.

Michelle Burtnyk said...

Glad to hear you're both a part of the movement. How do you feel about having a party to celebrate? We could bring our food items in Tupperware?

This would definitely be re-defining the Tupperware party in a climate-change-conscious, materialist-resistant kinda way.

You in?