Food is Life … We have it, but others don’t

Food is my passion. I love cooking. I love eating. I enjoy spending money on food. I studied and have a master in a related major. I have a food related career. I always hear people and friends say to me ”how come you eat that way and you don’t gain weight”. Well, I can say, I am lucky!

For me, food is a pleasure and & enjoyment, as it is, I believe, for many people.

Others, however, see food as a health growth and support matrix, essentially due to its macro and micronutrients, minerals, vitamins and others content.

For others and for me too, food is a passion. Food is here an education and work career; for people who are choosing culinary arts, food science and others and who attend cooking academia and workshops.

Some see food as an enemy, for people who want to lose weight or need to follow a specific lifestyle diet, noting that it should not be considered that way since whenever we believe in, follow, and commit to a healthy lifestyle diet, food will no longer be an enemy but a best friend.

Therefore, food is health, disease, pleasure, happiness, education, career and much more. Food is Life.

Whatever food means to you, we all cannot ignore the importance of food in our life.

Now, social media is a mirror of our society; Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp are full of pictures uploaded or sent for food plates and taken by people, which confirms this importance that people give to food, consciously or unconsciously.

Believe me, food is our constant companion, who does not leave us on any occasion.

How many times did you plan a movie or , a football match watching, a car trip or any other outing and food wasn’t part of it? I can say never or rarely.

Sometimes even, food is the plan itself, when planning to go and eat outside or having a picnic.

How many times did you attend a birthday, a bachelor party, a wedding or were invited to someone’s place and food was not there? I can say never or rarely.

How many times did you spend a single day with no food? I can say never or rarely.

For many of us, as we are used to seeing food in everything we do and wherever we go, we started taking it for granted.

Food is for us same as a person we see every day and we do not realize how much they really means to us until we lose them, but for others, food is like the person we truly love even though we can’t see them and really hope to meet one day.

We say that in 2018, it is not tolerable to have one human being with no education.

We say that in 2018, it is not acceptable to have one human being with unhealthy surroundings.

We Say, that in 2018, it is not allowed to have one human being who cannot experience happiness.

How do we then accept to have, in 2018, human beings who can’t have access to all of these elements combined in one matrix, called food?

The United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates that about 815 million people of the 7.6 billion people in the world, or 10.6%, were suffering from chronic undernourishment in 2016.

What is ironic is that currently we produce enough food to feed the world population (Feeding the world, University of Pennsylvania).

How can I help? Each person is now asking this question or should ask.

Many NGOs as well as individual/groups initiatives, are in place, having the “zero hunger” vision as objective.

“What can be done?” might be the next question. Well, here the answer is easy. You are part of it.

Whenever you have a wedding, a birthday, an invitation or any small or big event, consider all food leftovers, which by definition are the uneaten edible remains of a meal. Collect them, call a concerned NGO or a related initiative and Donate Food.

If you work in a restaurant, a hotel, an industry or any food related business, take the initiative and implement the food donation at your workplace.

You can find below some NGOs contact details and you can request others.

What you can do also is spend some time to cook specifically for those in need and donate.

At the end, you can simply think about these people and buy, prepare, cook, and eat responsibly. Not throwing food can also help. The amount of food we find in waste containers is more than what we find in the mouths of people in need.

If you have the ability to buy excessively, consider donating some instead of throwing them once spoiled.

If you cook more than the quantity you need, donate the remaining part, or store it in a freezer until enough quantity is collected. More than two-thirds of food thrown away by households is potentially edible.

• Believe me, what you can do is much more than you think, but you should start doing it.