World Food Day in Newfoundland

Reports from the United Nations last week tell us there are almost 870 million hungry people in the world. That’s one in every eight, or just under 13% of the world’s population suffering from hunger. To put it into perspective, it’s more than all the people in Canada, US and across the multiple countries of Europe combined. What is unfortunate and fact is that the world has enough resources to feed each and every hungry person. Growing up many of us heard that we should be thankful and eat our veggies as hungry people across Africa, Asia or the like would be certainly be happy to have them. But hunger isn’t just a problem we see just in the third world. It affects us right here in Newfoundland and Labrador as well. Data from Food Banks Canada say just under 6% of our population, and 9,090 of NL households used food banks last year. Tomorrow is World Food Day. It’s being recognized here in Newfoundland and Labrador, across Canada and several other countries as well. I spoke with the Food Security Network of Newfoundland and Labrador (FSN), a provincial non-profit organization that actively promotes comprehensive and community-based solutions to ensure physical and economic access to adequate and healthy food for all, to find out more about this day and the events happening around our province.

World Food Day is an internationally observed day to heighten public awareness of the problem of hunger in the world. This annual celebration began back in 1981 and is now recognized in over 150 countries as a day for raising public awareness concerning global food issues – as we know there are many. (For the 870 million people that remain hungry, our world is increasingly faced with a double burden of malnutrition co-existing with obesity and related diseases affecting billions of people worldwide).

October 16^th will be used as a day for communities to celebrate food and raise awareness of food security issues. For the next few days across our province there will be events including community gardens, farmers’ markets, local food and food advocacy groups hosting community meals, harvest celebrations, film screenings, and more. In St. John’s on October 19^th Oxfam and the FSN will be hosting an event consisting of a three-course meal from local ingredients showcasing fish, vegetables, & fruit and a documentary entitled, End of the Line, which looks at the impact of overfishing on oceans. Events are also taking place in Riverhead, St. Mary’s Bay, Hopedale, and Carbonear, and have already happened in Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Harbour Breton. 

If there isn’t an activity going on in your neck of the woods, or you don’t have the time to make it to an event, do take some time tomorrow at home or work to think about food and hunger. One thing we all can do to make an impact is to be conscious and reduce food waste. Perhaps you’ll decide to make less to eat, share meals with a family member or friend, repack leftovers for lunch or freeze for later use, compost, or maybe just buy and eat less overall. Each year in our country we waste almost as much food as the entire net food production of sub-Saharan Africa. In case you’re wondering, that’s 230 million tonnes. Each person in our country also wastes on average between 210 and 250 pounds of food a year. While people living in many of the hungriest parts of the world, say sub-Saharan Africa, South and Southeast Asia throw away a mere 13 to 24.

As seen in The Telegram October 15, 2012