Styrofoam at the mouth

Is “yucky” according to Donna Meadows of the Little House Cafe on Blanding, home to Alameda’s first grass parking lot.    From the Alameda Journal, it appears that Alameda is going to move forward toward a ban on stryofoam:

…The city is considering a ban on polystyrene food containers, and it may happen as early as next month.

A meeting to discuss the proposed ban and get public input will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday at City Hall, 2263 Santa Clara Ave.

Prohibited items would include take-out food containers, bowls, plates, trays, cartons and cups, according to a press release the city issued last week.

In addition, restaurants, food vendors and city facilities will be required to use containers that can break down in nature, unless an affordable alternative is not available.

The city has suggested that restaurants and food vendors could charge a “take-out fee” to customers to cover the cost difference for purchasing the alternative product…

 Of course, as we know Alameda will not be the first, nor hopefully the last, to consider a ban on styrofoam.   So far, my personal experience with having take-out in some of the cities where there is a ban is that it’s actually better for some of the food items to not be encased in styrofoam.   Although the notable exception is soup.   Now I’m not talking about your old chicken noodle or clam chowder that is generally at lukewarm (if that) temperatures.   I’m talking about the soup that comes with your good old fashion asian noodle soups.   One restaurant that I have been going to since I was a wee one in San Francisco, Hai Ky Mi Gai, (used to be a real hole in the wall, now that they have remodelled it’s sort of nicer) has some issues adapting its core menu to the stryofoam ban.   When you get an order to go they have to put the soup broth — high on the MSG, so if your tolerance level is low, this joint is not for you, or just get the dry noodles — in a clear plastic container which is thin and not insulated like styrofoam.   This is not ideal because the soup cools a lot faster, which they seem to have compensated for by making the broth even hotter and you tend to get singed a little on the outside of the container.   So I think it’s imperitive that, as Councilmember Lena Tam said in the Journal article, that whatever is done works for Alameda and isn’t simply just a copy of other cities.  

Maybe Alameda should opt for a “bring your own container” for credit as is already done for coffee places like Starbucks and Peet’s.    That would definitely be interesting the next time you are getting items to go at your favorite restaurant or even getting a “doggy bag” of unfinished food items from your dinner.   Could you imagine pulling out tupperware from your purse/European man bag and handing it to the server?