Wat en hoeveel eet een olifant per dag?

What does “wegwerken” mean in Dutch?

Wegwerken literally means “to work away,” but in everyday Dutch it’s the verb you reach for when describing someone plowing through a large quantity of food. Een hele pizza wegwerken = polish off a whole pizza. The verb implies effort plus completion: not just eating, but getting through it. It’s the closest Dutch comes to English “demolish” or “wolf down” without the violent imagery. The same verb works for clearing email, paperwork, or a customer queue.

In this educational clip about elephants, the narrator says “zo werkt een Afrikaanse olifant dagelijks zo’n 200 kilo aan voedsel weg” (“an African elephant gets through about 200 kilos of food a day”). 200 kilos. Wegwerken indeed.