I thought I was witnessing an important social phenomenon that would have a huge impact on the eating habits of Chinese in the decades to come. "Clean Your Plate" screamed the message from the middle of a Ming-motif dinner plate in a half-page advertisement in China Daily's July 1, 2013 edition. It was part of the "clean your plate movement", which in Chinese is called guangpan xingdong.

The ad is a clear indication that the Chinese government is pushing the envelope for its 1.3 billion people to "uphold the virtue and foster new practices", one of which is to eat all the food on your plate. This also is an important step toward stopping wastage of food.

What I see in China today is a far cry from my first visit to the country - Wuhan in Hubei province, to be precise - in 1977 as a young student. I used to use liang- piao (food coupon) to get a meal because food was then rationed.