World Food Day 2009

In case you missed it, as I did until a day late, Friday October 16th was United Nations World Food Day.  In fact, it was the 29th observance of World Food Day (W.F.D.), which was started in 1981 by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (F.A.O.).

The worldwide event is observed in over 150 countries and is designed to increase understanding and awareness of worldwide hunger and be a call to action to alleviate that hunger.  It is sponsored in the United States by 450 national, private organizations, mostly at a grass-roots community level.

The theme of this years W.F.D. is "Achieving Food Security in Times of Crisis".  This theme was picked to help focus attention on the U.N.F.A.O. World Food Summit in Rome November 16-18th.  The F.A.O. World Food Summit will focus on the goal of Food Security which refers to the availability of food and one's access to it.  The F.A.O. defines Food Security as "When all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy Life". 

Last year 923 million people around the world suffered from hunger on a regular basis.  Since then, an additional 105 million have been added to the hunger rolls, bringing the total to 1.2 Billion people suffering from chronic hunger!  Some of the contributing factors to this massive increase are environmental along with access to markets, increase in food prices, global population growth, displacement because of war, climate change, and increased farming for use in biofuels.

 

At least 70% of the world's poor, the majority of them women, live and work on small-scale farms, are often unable to produce enough to feed themselves, and many cannot afford to purchase food for their families.  They usually don't own the land they are farming and, since they can not survive there, when they can manage it, are moving to urban areas to find work.  According to Raymond C. Offenheimer, the president of Oxfam America, "Small-scale farmers hold the key to increasing global food production in a sustainable way but our policies have left them to fend for themselves on the front-lines of hunger, poverty and climate change."

 This growing world food crisis has led to a collaborative global effort to combat hunger centered around country-led processes to improve Food Security.  The United States believes that Food Security is the foundation for building social and economic development.  The idea is to support small farmers in rural areas to become sustainable and provide themselves with a livelihood that gives them the opportunity to  stay in their communities.  In his inaugural address President Obama said: " To the poor nations, we pledge to work along side you to make your farms flourish and let clean water flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds."  At the 2009 G-8 Summit President Obama pledged the U.S. would invest 3.5 billion in agriculture-led economic growth.  This commitment led to 16 billion dollars from other donors to support this new approach to advance agricultural development and reduce hunger for the poorest segment of the population which is rural farmers.  Here in the United States, efforts currently under way in congress and in an initiative recently announced by President Obama that would provide critical resources for investing in agriculture and rural livelihoods.  You can support that bill Here.

Around the world in the past year there have been many riots because of lack of food for starving people.    Although there is enough food produced in the world to feed everyone, there are many factors which contribute to global hunger and the answers to the problem are complex.  According to the World Resources Institute, global per-capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past several decades.  In 2006, MSNBC reported that globally, the number of people who are overweight has surpassed the number who are undernourished. At that time, there are more than a billion overweight people in the world and 800 million who were undernourished.

As a Part Time Vegetarian, you have taken a small step to helping alleviate hunger, reduce global warming, and provide your body with a healthier diet, but you can do more!

• Spread the word about "Part Time Vegetarians" share this blog with a friend.
• Help spread the word about hunger by researching hunger facts online, informing yourself, and helping inform others on hunger.
• Participate in the regional and national debate about the causes and remedies for hunger both here and abroad.  I have a friend who is a local organic farmer and he makes a very strong case for sustainable farming as the key to both physical and economic health for the local community.
• Volunteer at a local food bank.  They usually need extra help during the colder months and during the holidays.
• Start a food drive at your place of work to raise hunger awareness and support a local food bank or homeless shelter. (Be sure you get permission and have the support of management first.)
• Contribute to regional and international food relief on an ongoing basis.  Most large charity organizations will take donations directly from your credit card or bank account on a monthly basis allowing you to spread out your donations over the year and put it on auto-pilot which saves you time and effort.  My two favorites are Oxfam USA for international hunger aid and Feeding America (formerly America's Second Harvest) for US aid.

These are just a couple of ideas to get you started helping the most needy among us.  As a chef, it is natural for me to want to provide food and be involved in hunger relief efforts.  Giving back in gratitude for all the blessings I have in my Life, and especially for food, is one of the most satisfying and rewarding things I do.  There are so many opportunities to give and provide food, one of the most basic needs of our fellow human beings. I believe everyone who has enough should be doing their part to alleviate this most basic suffering.  I hope you will take the opportunity provided by W.F.D. to share your blessings with those in your community, your region, and our world.

My personal favorite food charities are Oxfam USA and Feeding America which I listed and provided links to above.

Here are other great food relief charities to check out:

• Catholic Relief Services - Hunger Relief
  
• Action against Hunger - USA
• Bread for the World Institute
• Food for the Hungry
• Freedom from Hunger
• Global Hunger Project

These are the very top-rated hunger charities by the American Institute of Philanthropy. 

I hope this blog post has helped inform you on hunger and the world hunger crisis and inspired you to be involved in some small way.  Please pass this post on to everyone you know that you think will benefit from this information.  God bless your food, your body, and your Spirit.

Robert

 "A hungry man is not a free man"  ~ Adlai E. Stevenson

" This should not be about theoretical elegance, efficiency of markets or linkages between democratization and economic development. It should be about being human and about leaving space for others and allowing them to be human. It should be about compassion and a genuine search for creating feasible, workable and accessible opportunities for the millions out in the cold. It should be about a different vision of the world."

~ Eunice Kazembe, Malawi's Ambassador to Taiwan from a hunger workshop given by Oxfam.

"In essence, hunger is the most extreme form of poverty, where individuals or families cannot afford to meet their most basic need for food. Hunger manifests itself in many ways other than starvation and famine… poor people who battle hunger deal with chronic undernourishment and vitamin or mineral deficiencies, which result in stunted growth, weakness and heightened susceptibility to illness."  

~ Bread for the World