Making it Real

Traditional good manners teach that serving food or drink to yourself before serving those around you is rude.  But in reality we look after our own needs first.

 

Food is one of the most basic needs we have to survive.   925 million people are undernourished in the world today.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That means one in seven people do not get enough food to be healthy and active.  Hunger and malnutrition are in fact the number one risk to health worldwide — greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

 

The world is facing increased prospects of global food shortages.   World food reserves are at their lowest since 1974.    Because of climate change and the demand for food increasing so rapidly, a global food crisis in the very near future is inevitable unless urgent action is taken, warns the UN.   In 2012, for the sixth time in eleven years, the world consumed more food than it produced.  And using food crops for biofuels is making things worse.

 

Yet what do we do about it?

 

We in the West continue to consume more than we need, and a large proportion of what we have taken from others for ourselves gets wasted.  Food outlets discard what’s minutely imperfect, old or simply unsold.   They then have the gall to accuse people who take the food from their bins of stealing.  But wasting food is stealing from the hungry!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the UK seven million slices of bread are recorded as wasted every DAY.  But supermarkets do not release data of their food waste.  Combined with the known five million wasted potatoes daily, and countless tonnes of other food products that are thrown away, the UK’s food waste could probably feed five million starving people every day.

 

But our greed only wants the best selection of imported or out of season food, rather than learning to use what is available locally, “on special” or is going bad in our fridges and cupboards.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

 

         

           Cartoon from Making it Real part 1.

 

 

 

 

 

Planning how much food to prepare or purchase means less waste.  Sharing  communal meals means using less resources to cook as well as saving everyone time by sharing the work of doing the cooking.  Culture, emotions, and bonding are all integral parts of eating a meal with others that are being squeezed out because of our isolated and often selfish lifestyles.   Even family meals are reduced to special occasions.  

 

Show children the wonderful story of Stone Soup....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Children should be taught not to be fussy with food or to waste food with adults setting the example.

Leftovers should not be wasted.   There needs to be more thought and effort made to ensure excess food in one place can be used up or given to the hungry.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

              

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

               8,000 volunteers take part in an inspiring  “Feed my Starving Children” project in  Minnesota  in

               October  2012,  working in shifts to pack 2 million dried meals to send to malnourished children

               abroad.  Cost of each meal is only 22 cents.

 

 

 

 

The economic system  is based on the demand staying greater than the supply. So wasting and destroying resources to maximise profits rather than sharing them with those in need is normal business practise.  If there is a bumper crop, for example, half the crop is often destroyed to stop prices crashing.   This is criminally insane!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                            Excess tomato crop dumped in Spain, rather than  given away.