As we are well into Ramadan it is hard to escape the unceasing barrage of special offers and discounts in supermarkets.
Shops are buzzing with retail activity — buy two bottles of oil and get one free, buy five cans of dessert and get a free gift — and it’s all packaged with festive Ramadan greetings and illustrations on them. How can one refuse the temptation to stock up?
Traditionally, there is an emphasis on providing bountiful meals to celebrate this special month. The women of the house toil for hours preparing scrumptious meals for family and friends. As in many cultures around the world, offering a feast amounts to offering love, blessings, hospitality and abundance. But it’s only while clearing up after a meal that one realises how excessive these feasts can get.
I’ve both hosted and been hosted at numerous iftar parties during Ramadan, and must admit that I thoroughly enjoy them. But it leaves me wondering about the excessive leftovers, which inevitably end up in the garbage.
Being associated with the United Nations World Food Programme (UNFWP) as their Celebrity Partner, I have closely studied the statistics of hungry people in developing nations. UNWFP is the United Nations’ frontline agency in the fight against global hunger. Statistics show that one in every eight people in the world go hungry every single day, and that there are more hungry people on the planet than the combined populations of Canada, USA, and the European Union.
The UAE has been listed as a nation with one of the highest rates of food waste through the year, which shows that there is enough food in the world to feed every person on earth. These figures completely contrast with the life of opulence we lead here.
“But it will be terrible if food runs short at my iftar party,” said a dear friend to me recently. While I completely understand her predicament, I also understand that most of us plan the number of invitees, and most of us are fairly realistic when it comes to portion planning too. So why not consciously keep a smaller portion for leftovers? If every family reduced the quantity of food cooked even marginally, we can drastically bring down the amount of food wastage.
In our lives of plenty, it’s not hard to keep aside a small part of our blessings. Ending world hunger is possible during our lifetime and we all have a role to play. Join me in my endeavour by contributing to the UNWFP or simply reduce wastage in the kitchen. One small step at a time will lead us all to a better tomorrow.
