This morning I grabbed a packet of cream of wheat and some lunch to take to work. As I pulled out of the driveway, I pondered what I would have for dinner and felt a twinge of panic over planning a menu for Thanksgiving. Even in a recession, I am fortunate to always have something in my cupboard. This past weekend, when the snow was falling in Colorado and I didn't want to drive anywhere, I could just reach for some eggs and whip up an omelette, or grab a can of soup for lunch. The things I think of as "nothing special but they'll fill the hole” would be a feast to some, and more food than they've seen in a week to others.
Most Americans actually have access to too much food; the convenience can lead to too much of a good thing and we're dealing with obesity rather than starvation. Most of the people I know don't have to worry about where their next meal is going to come from. Our biggest decisions are "shall we eat out or cook in?" "Shall we bake, fry or grill?" "Do you want dessert with that?" We have choices between home-cooked, microwavable or restaurant food. Thousands of buffets have popped up across America, each one with an entire table totally devoted to desserts. We not only have food, we have seconds and then have the extra luxury of dessert. We have so much access to food that we actually have to exercise restraint in the types of food we go for, trying to select healthy over fatty ... but we have such abundant choices. My goodness, we even have our own "food pyramid" that teaches us how to eat.
Our table scraps would feed a nation. Americans waste an astounding amount of food — an estimated 27 percent of the food available for consumption, according to a government study — and it happens at the supermarket, in restaurants and cafeterias and in our own kitchens. It works out to about a pound of food every day for every American. That sounded like an enormous amount to me until I thought about how I am constantly buying produce that I allow to go bad in the crisper drawer before I get a chance to eat it, and the bananas that have turned brown and last week's Chinese left-overs.
America is not an impoverished country, but even in our abundance, we have people going hungry here as well. As I drove to work, I heard the news reporter say that hunger was on the increase in our country. 15% of all U.S. households struggle to consistently keep food on the table for their family. With the exception of a very brief time in my early 20's when I was living off of popcorn, I really haven't had to experience hunger. I'm so blessed!
Ways to help national and world hunger: please visit the below websites and donate or take action in your local communities.
*Excellent* article - and may I add one more to your list of websites - www.firstfoodbank.org which will take you to St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance, generally recognized as the world's first food bank and with a whopping 96 cents of every donated dollar going to client services.
ReplyDeleteHere's another link from KLOVE's website for Hope for the Hungry. This Thanksgiving, a gift of about $2 can provide a hot meal and the gift of hope to someone in need.
ReplyDeletehttp://klove.com/promodetails.aspx?i=5437