The image we normally associate with hunger is that of skinny children with huge mournful eyes and bones sticking out in far off countries. However, as the economic crisis continues could this become a reality in the so called first world - our world?
My attention was drawn to the problem of hunger in the UK a few months ago and it has been playing on my mind ever since. It all started when by chance I was channel surfing and came across 'Richard Corrigan on Hunger' which saw telly chef Richard Corrigan investigate the growth of food poverty in the UK. Quite frankly I could barely believe what I was seeing. The people featured in the documentary weren't homeless, they weren't drug addicts they were ordinary working families on low incomes who between rent, bills and essentials for the kids (by this I mean shoes etc not playstations and ipads) simply couldn't make ends meet.
It seems unthinkable that people in one of the worlds richest countries are regularly going hungry because they can't afford food, or because they have to choose between feeding themselves or feeding their children.
What made this situation even more astonishing for me was the contrast with the sheer amount of food wasted in the UK (an estimated 5,375,000 tonnes per year or 17.6% of total household waste if you're interested) and this is something so many of us are guilty of.
How can people be starving when so much perfectly edible food is being thrown away?
Here is the link to the programme I watched, it's well worth a look http://current.com/groups/videos/93576223_richard-corrigan-on-hunger.htm
In response to this problem there are a growing number of foodbanks in the UK, people in need of food are issued vouchers by front line care professionals (such as health visitors, doctors and social workers) and can use these vouchers to claim food packages at one of these foodbanks.
I must admit that aswell as being shocked I also felt incredibly guilty as I am one of the millions regularly throwing away food. I wanted to know more about the hunger problem in my own area, surely no one around here is going hungry? This must be a big city problem! How wrong I was.... A foodbank has been set up in a small town less than 2 miles from where I live, they regularly carry out food collections at supermarkets throughout Swansea. If this is playing on your conscience why not get googling and find out what's going on in your area, most of us can afford to throw a few extra items in the trolley at the supermarket and any donations are appreciated.
I have contacted my local foodbank and arranged for them to give a presentation to our WI, we plan to get more involved in helping our community and this seems to be an excellent place to start.
I mentioned my food waste guilt earlier, in this house we throw food away regularly. There is rarely anything wrong with the food, the usual reason is that we didn't fancy it so ate something else, or we went out or we felt like a take away (less so now we are being healthy and avoid take aways!). I am determined to stop taking food for granted, and since becoming aware of the problem I have thrown away a lot less food mainly because I have been conciously buying less and buying more frozen food. However, we are still throwing food away, this is wasting food aswell as money, and that IS a motivator.
So.......I am setting myself a challenge! There are 3 of us in this household (2 adults and 1 toddler), I think I spend about £100 every week on food (including eating out) when I go shopping I rarely even notice the price of things and do A LOT of impulse buying. This week i'm going to lock all debit and credit cards in the safe and do my very best to survive on £50.
Keep checking the blog to see how i'm getting on, i'm also going to be brutally honest and record what is going in the bin.
As Geraint says 'it's a challenge, a challenge for me and a challenge for the coracle'.
Wish me luck.......
It seems unthinkable that people in one of the worlds richest countries are regularly going hungry because they can't afford food, or because they have to choose between feeding themselves or feeding their children.
What made this situation even more astonishing for me was the contrast with the sheer amount of food wasted in the UK (an estimated 5,375,000 tonnes per year or 17.6% of total household waste if you're interested) and this is something so many of us are guilty of.
How can people be starving when so much perfectly edible food is being thrown away?
Here is the link to the programme I watched, it's well worth a look http://current.com/groups/videos/93576223_richard-corrigan-on-hunger.htm
In response to this problem there are a growing number of foodbanks in the UK, people in need of food are issued vouchers by front line care professionals (such as health visitors, doctors and social workers) and can use these vouchers to claim food packages at one of these foodbanks.
I must admit that aswell as being shocked I also felt incredibly guilty as I am one of the millions regularly throwing away food. I wanted to know more about the hunger problem in my own area, surely no one around here is going hungry? This must be a big city problem! How wrong I was.... A foodbank has been set up in a small town less than 2 miles from where I live, they regularly carry out food collections at supermarkets throughout Swansea. If this is playing on your conscience why not get googling and find out what's going on in your area, most of us can afford to throw a few extra items in the trolley at the supermarket and any donations are appreciated.
I have contacted my local foodbank and arranged for them to give a presentation to our WI, we plan to get more involved in helping our community and this seems to be an excellent place to start.
I mentioned my food waste guilt earlier, in this house we throw food away regularly. There is rarely anything wrong with the food, the usual reason is that we didn't fancy it so ate something else, or we went out or we felt like a take away (less so now we are being healthy and avoid take aways!). I am determined to stop taking food for granted, and since becoming aware of the problem I have thrown away a lot less food mainly because I have been conciously buying less and buying more frozen food. However, we are still throwing food away, this is wasting food aswell as money, and that IS a motivator.
So.......I am setting myself a challenge! There are 3 of us in this household (2 adults and 1 toddler), I think I spend about £100 every week on food (including eating out) when I go shopping I rarely even notice the price of things and do A LOT of impulse buying. This week i'm going to lock all debit and credit cards in the safe and do my very best to survive on £50.
Keep checking the blog to see how i'm getting on, i'm also going to be brutally honest and record what is going in the bin.
As Geraint says 'it's a challenge, a challenge for me and a challenge for the coracle'.
Wish me luck.......
No comments:
Post a Comment