Food! Glorious Food!

I think it must be the effect of running the conference for the whole of last week. I see plateloads of food all the time. My daily feeding routine (feeding both myself and the conference delegates) goes like this

Morning break: 10:30am

International buffet lunch: 12:30pm

Afternoon break 3:30pm.

Do I need so much food? Does anyone in the world need so much food? And the worst thing is that much of these food is being wasted. Trays full of foods are being thrown away, most of the time, without a tinge if guilt and sometimes without any thought that all these food took effort, resources and time to be produced. Being urbanites, many of us sometimes forget or fail to connect to the fact that food comes from somewhere and that there are people out there who would kill for the food we threw away. In our very affluent and plentiful society today, I am apalled at the education some parents are giving their kids "Oh it is ok, just eat the chicken, leave the rice if you cannot finish" or worse " never mind, cannot finish, leave it" They have forgotten about the value of food and I am sad to realise that their kids will grow up not knowing how precious food is.

My parents will jump if there is any food left on my plate or on the table for that matter. They have always insisted that we only order or cook whatever we can eat. There should be no food left at the end of the meal. If there is, it will be kept for the next meal. Throw away food? Not going to happen in my family. That is why I always finish my food even if I am full. That uncomfortable over-stuffed stomach will remind me not to order or buy so much in the future!

Many people have this mentality " I paid for the food so why should you care what I do with it?" Well it is not the money, it is the fact that you throw away food which could have kept many food deprived human beings alive! If you don't need the food, don't order or buy it. Leave it for some other more needy people!