Tuesday 16 October 2007

Please do not waste your food – Voracious Blog Reader

A simple google search will tell us how people in some of the countries across the world suffer due to lack of food to eat.

Please do not waste your food.


I have seen instances when food was wasted/thrown into the Garbage because:

  1. The food is not warm.

  2. The food doesn't suit their taste buds.

One could be considerate if food was thrown into the bin since it is not edible. But again I would ask:

  • What lead to this situation?

  • Is it negligence?

  • Was the food left in the refrigerator for days together and left to decay?

The amount of food one eats in the developed countries for breakfast, is the food a person eats in Africa for the whole day. [Forgot the magazine, which gave this fact, and hence unable to give reference]

I am sure everyone of us has received the e-mail of a child crawling to a food camp in sudan and a vulture waiting near by to eat the child once it died of starvation. Please think of this when you waste your food. We are blessed to eat a square meal. For those who were lucky enough to escape the gory picture, here it is: (click on image for a enlarged view)


And then, there are these instances were people celebrate their Birthdays where the person is literally bathed in all sort of food items, like in this video below:





I do not want to give him publicity and hence not mentioning his blog here.

Despite our (Sree's and mine) comments mentioning the importance of food, the person never even bothered to reply. The amount of food wasted could have lasted at least two days.


I reiterate: Please do not waste your food.

Voracious Blog Reader


24 comments:

Ravi said...

VBR, I am glad you brought this up. This is a very very valid point. I have a similar post on my blog when I wrote about Food (a few years back that is!).

What I get annoyed about is when people are fussy over food, waste heartlessly and have scant regard/respect for food.

During our childhood days, we used to told that each grain of rice we leave on our plates would be fed back to us (in hell) as worms! I am really thankful to my parents for making me realise the importance of food and thereby not waste it.

Anonymous said...

VBR: Thank you. Interesting to see the Sudan photo being used in this context - I had used it in my post on Journalistic ethics...

As someone who runs a restaurant, talk about wastage of food goes straight to my heart. Unfortunately, I can't seem to be able to do anything about it...

Krish Ashok said...

A very necessary post. I cringe at every wedding, when the hosts go around and force the caterers to place 2 vadas instead of one, 2 servings of payasam instead of one and so on. The amount of food wasted at weddings is criminal. But I will add a slightly more controversial observation as well. Our temples waste more food than anybody else. Millions of litres of milk, ghee and other victuals simply going down the drain to satisfy a devotee's need to feel blessed. I just don't buy that. Wouldn't it be nice if temples take a stance on this and do something about it? Could we not make abhishekhams symbolic and actually spare the milk, or feed the poor? But then, Hinduism seems to lost the ability to understand the difference between symbolism and literalism a loong time ago. About the time when the Upanishadic meaning of the Ashwamedha yagna turned from being a journey towards expunging the harmful aspects of ones ego to the literal slaughter of a healthy horse.

Sorry about the long rant.

Ravi said...

Krish Ashok,
You have made a very apt observation. As you rightly said, making ghee and milk go down the drain would definitely not be God's wish! He would have preferred had it been used more effectively for the needy. Though I am very pious, this particular thing about abhishekam (esp with food) has been eating me for long! And yes, needless to say about wedding feasts - infact people go all the way to just show off their display of grandeur

prerna said...

I agree with Krish Ashok, abhishekhams should be made symbolic and the milk should be spared to feed the poor.The amount of food wasted at weddings is criminal- I have realised here in Delhi at least, South Indian weddings are still sensible, the North Indians weddings are just crazy when it comes to wasting food.

Anonymous said...

A very relevant post. What beats me is how people refuse to be aware about food wastage (and shortage) at a time when it stares you in the face.

Unknown said...

I crige every time when I look of that foto... Lovely effort VBR and shree... I also join hands spearing the message to the cause!

Jeevan said...

I don't want this situation again happening on any other land.

I support fully for this aware against wasting food. I keep telling whenever I see some one wasting food. I see many put lot of food and when they cant eat the whole it have been thrown, but if we put limited and add to fill the hunger would be fine.

Anonymous said...

@ Ravi

Yes Ravi. We were shown the importance of food right from our tender age and we have followed it.

It sure pays to be stern to children concerning issues like these.

@ Mahendra

Thank you.

I have a couple of questions for you:

What do you do with the rest over food? Do you throw it away or distribute it to the needy?

I was in a Restaurant once for dinner; late night dinner to be precise. It was closing time and I saw some sweets in the refrigerator(Baasandhi or something alike). After about 15 minutes, they were not to bee seen there. On enquiring, I found out that they were thrown into the bin since their shelf life is only for one day. And they threw it....:(

@ Krishashok

Thanks for reminding me about wedding. In addition to what you mention, I have seen this phenomenon during lunch/dinner:

People deliberately seat themselves leaving a unoccupied seat inbetween. This is because they do not know the person. After the lunch is over, the banana leaf along with the food of the unoccupied seat will be taken away to the Garbage bin.

And yes, I thought the same thing when they broadcasted the Abhishekam of Gomatheswara in Shravana Belagola.

//
Hinduism seems to lost the ability to understand the difference between symbolism and literalism a loong time ago
//

Can you post a write-up? Would love to read it. How to revive Hinduism should also be in focus. Thanks.

@ CW

Yes. People forget the reality when they waste food. Probably people should be shown a documentary film about food shortage and how people starve.

@ Curious

Thank Curious. Thanks for taking the pains to spread the message.

@ Jeevan

Exactly. They ask for more but cannot finish off what is on their plate.

Voracious Blog Reader

Anonymous said...

precisely
u dont need to goto sudan
parts of orissa and naxal belt also has similar problems

tulipspeaks said...

agree with u 100% VBR. i always loathed at this 'ritual' which is a custom in universities here whenever a student turn 21! ridiculous!



ammu.

Vinesh said...

have always hated splattering cake on the birthday boy/girl's face!

Compassion Unlimitted said...

How many times requests come from orphanages etc to feed them instead of wasting..who listens..grand gala parties food thrown into dust bins..wish awareness sets in..good blog..it will definitely make people think
TC
CU

Anonymous said...

@ Prax

Yes, you are right. That photo was just to bring into view the scarcity of food in the world.

@ Tulipspeaks a.k.a Ammu

Yes, happens a lot amongst college going people. May be catching them young and educating them would bring a stop to this.

@ Vinesh

Welcome here "Orange juice for the Soul". Have been reading your blog for quite a long time. Never got th opportunity to comment though. Neither did I hop on to your blog after there was a brief lull following your wedding photo post. Wishing you and Rathi a happy married life.

@ Compassion Unlimited

Hi. Many orphanages even give an idea to donators as to how many mouths could be fed when they donate money.

It is sure heartbreaking to see food thrown in the bins. :(


Voracious Blog Reader

Deekshanya said...

Lovely topic again - worth contemplating!! Kudos to u for provoking ppl to think on these lines.

Starting with, the conservation of water should be stressed upon.Using water lavishly would end up in sever damage to the world in the coming years.

Limiting the intake or rather being selective in the food we intake is somethign to be considered these days ( I dont want to talk about birthdays / parties /temples /weddings again where the food& water wastage is MAX)

It should start at home, I feel. When we teach our family to do so, it starts spreading to our neighbours, siblings , friend so on and so forth.

So lets start insisting on this effort today!

Anonymous said...

Hi Deeksh,

Thanks.

//
It should start at home, I feel
//

Well said. Charity becomes at home. So do other good qualities.

//
So lets start insisting on this effort today!
//

Wonderful. Taking the first step is important. The rest will fall in place.

Voracious Blog Reader

R. Prabhu said...

Rightly said VBR - See this link for the picture of people without food in the same world we live http://www.mediafire.com/?3kimjxyu3my

The Artist said...

When I read this I was reminded of the childline- 1098 ...they come and pick up leftover food from parties, weddings etc and use the food to feed hungry children...

Anil P said...

Are these IT techies earning tons?

Sree said...

wow.Are they celebrating or abusing the man? This is crazy.And the man is grinning like a total fool by tolerating it all.Disgusting.

Appreciate the things you have brought up in this blog.

Anonymous said...

If not us, who? If not now, when?

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