(Author: Carly S)
2015 was a big year in the fight against hunger and food waste. As the new year kicks off everyone here at Eat United is hoping to see more food waste fighting, hunger-smashing great stuff happening in 2016.
The shocking amount of food wasted globally really hit the headlines in 2015. In May, France passed a law forcing supermarkets to give unsold food to charity rather than throw it away. Prior to this law, edible food was tossed away with rotting food and often bleach was pored on the lot to stop people trying to rescue it! Sacré bleu!
There continued to be a global push world-wide for supermarkets to do something about the shocking amount of food they throw away. Australian supermarket, Woolworths introduced it's “Odd Bunch” fruit and veg range – discounted fruit and veggies that would have previously been thrown away simply because of the way they looked.
Throwing away food just because it's a funny shape is crazy. It all looks the same in your belly!
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Funny looking fruit tastes just as good!
Comedian John Oliver's brilliant and shocking rant about food waste went viral and once again food waste was in the headlines and became the top-trending topic on Twitter.
Celebrity Chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall declared "war on waste" airing a TV series exposing the amount of good food wasted in the UK.
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As outrage grows about the amount of food wasted globally, creative solutions are appearing. In one town in the Basque country in Spain Residents have come up with a simple and brilliant solution to the problem of food waste in their area by starting a communal fridge, the “frigorífico solidario” or solidarity fridge.
Residents can drop off any surplus food they might have and it’s free for anyone to take. The fridge has a wooden fence built around it so it isn`t mistaken for an abandoned appliance and so far it’s been an outstanding success.
Maybe we'll see more of these popping up in 2016.
At Eat United we continued working here in Managua, rescuing fruit and veggies from Mercado Mayoreo and sharing them with food insecure communities. We also supported community cooking days and educated for better food management. All up we rescued well over 12,000 kg of good fruit and veggies!
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Serving up a lunch made of yummy, rescued foods.
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Volunteers in front of some of our haul in Mercado Mayoreo.
And, we had fun.
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Fun and games at our World Food Day Celebrations
2015 also saw Eat United run “Snap Your Snack” our first ever crowd-funding campaign. It was a great success with over 150 people from 15 countries uniting to raise over U$5000. This money will go along way to ensuring the expansion and sustainability of Eat United in 2016 and beyond.
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Just some of the amazing people that supported Snap Your Snack.
Working together,we can continue to make strides, cutting food waste and working toward the goal of zero hunger. Because when it comes to people being hungry, zero is the only acceptable number.
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