OzHarvest is a great idea from Australia, which we could do with starting up something similar in England. Set up over 20 years ago, this is the country’s leading food rescue organisation, which donates surplus food to hungry people.
The media and political treatment of hungry people in England is appalling. Many MPs and political pundits have suggested that people who use food banks should learn to budget their books, or just buy cheap own-brand foods like beans and noodles. What patronising nonsense.
Most people living on the breadline likely have thought of that? And food banks are usually vetted through local organisations – you can’t just turn up and help yourself.
Food campaigner Jack Monroe (who once lived on £10 a week to feed herself and her young son) said one old man told her that he was eating a little toothpaste at night, to fool himself that he had eaten dinner:
The square root of f*ck all is ALWAYS going to be f*ck all, no matter how creatively you’re told to dice it. Jack Monroe
Stop quoting pasta prices. Snigdha Nag
Media Diversified has an excellent post going into detail on why people are told to ‘buy potatoes and shop at ALDI’ by people who are not addressing the real issues. ‘Cheap food’ requires pans to cook with, energy bills to pay, oil to fry up base ingredients, a peeler to make potato dishes and (often) a car to drive to ‘cheap ‘out-of-town’ supermarkets.
Many people in poverty don’t have fridges to store leftovers. And some older people with arthritis can’t peel carrots and potatoes, so have to buy (more expensive’) ready-made ones in tins. Seasonal foods are cheaper, but most supermarkets sell over-inflated priced food from abroad (70% of our apples are not local).
Again, Jack Monroe notes that prices of apples and rice have gone up with inflation, yet supermarkets have kept prices of champagne the same.
Often people live in ‘food deserts’ (the ‘local shop’ often being NISA selling frozen pizza and chips, with no bus service to cheap shops). So people can’t follow ‘why don’t they all shop at ALDI?’ advice.
And millions of people have no access to the Internet, so they can’t shop online – especially when it’s a minimum shop of £50 or so to qualify for free delivery.
Ronnie’s Vision (far more positive and empowering)
Ronnie Kahn is a South African entrepreneur who has revolutionised the way people think of food banks and hungry people, in her adopted country. We have food banks, but this is on a different scale.
She has used her business skills to turn the food waste issue on its head, even passing a law with help of pro-bono lawyers to let businesses give surplus food to charities, without fear of liability). Other things the organisation does:
- Volunteers deliver over 250 tonnes of donated food from local businesses each week, to food bank charities. Drivers are trained to spot unsafe foods (cooked rice and foods past use-by dates). Most foods are collected (not alcohol, so they can’t accept leftover Christmas puddings!)
- The food truck caters to events, using food waste ingredients (as does its in-house catering company).
- Cooking for a Cause teaches local people to cook healthy tasty food with rescued ingredients.
The shop sells food items made from food waste. These include a sparkling non-alcohol alternative (made from rescued blueberries), a lemonade (made from rescued lemons, strawberry and ginger), an upcycled tomato chilli sauce and jams made from upcycled berries and rhubarb.
