Let's unite in 'Don't you waste food'

Last week, I had dinner with one of the most eminent gourmet food designers of Ahmedabad, Susheelaben Subodh. I had a dollop of pickle and a piece of jaggery left on my plate, as I completed the dinner. Susheelaben, sitting next to me, noticed and picked up the pickle and placed in on her plate. Even as I protested that this was 'jhootha', she overruled with an affectionate smile, touching and inspiring me with her simplicity and sensitivity to not waste food. I ate the piece of jaggery, relishing the taste and the resolve of taking and eating food mindfully, and not wasting even a bit.

If each one of the 7 billion folks on this planet chooses to eat mindfully, not goaded or driven by greed or want, we would have sufficient food for the starving millions, too.

As articulated in 2011 by the then UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon, there is enough food in the world, yet millions are starving.

So, what is needed is a systematic, sustainable, planned ' Don't You Waste Food Campaign' campaign and a call for action to roll this out.

The thought of the big picture at the national and global level may seem overwhelming.

But, the simple, everyday practices at the level of the individual are doable. As concerned and responsible human beings, our choice of addressing this issue can certainly make a big difference and create a better future. Each one of us straddles the small, individual space to the bigger spaces of families and communities, to the even bigger and overpowering contexts of organisations, nations and the globe. So, we can start by following Gandhiji's efficacious formula of 'being the change we wish to see'.

The System Research Society (SRS) has started a national campaign on reducing food wastage, with a view to reclaiming the future. After successful campaigns in Patna and Nagpur, they have recently initiated the movement in Ahmedabad. The daylong deliberations had participants from schools, colleges, catering associations, and hospitality industry and media presence. Perspectives from the armed forces very articulated by Brig. Rajesh Magotra, and academia, shared by Dean Preeti Shroff of MICA added new dimensions to this important campaign. A walk against Food Wastage at the Sabarmati River Front Park last week had institutions like Shreyas Foundation, National Cadet Corps, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Shree Narayan College of Commerce and the citizens of Ahmedabad joining was another highlight of this campaign.

It is reported that the world overall wastes about 1.3 billion tonnes of food a year, while Indians, too, waste as much food as the whole of the UK consumes. It is shown that an average urban middle-income family in India, which spends about Rs 15,000 per month on food, can save up to Rs 900 a month, by merely reducing food wastage by half! We may not be able to completely eliminate food wastage at once, but the journey of efforts to achieve circular economy and reducing waste can start with each one of us doing our small, but sure bit! As we cruise through our days, if we remember to be a tad more mindful of the food we eat, expressing our gratitude for the efforts of all those, right from the farmers to those cooking the food and serving us, this would make us value every morsel and prevent us from wasting. In many parts of the world, there is a practice of offering grace to the Lord for giving us every meal. Just as we began our meal at the Octaguenarian Susheelaben's home, we offered a simple, prayer thanking Annapoorna, (the Goddess of Food). With gratitude for the nourishment and energy, inspiration and goodness, we prayed to be able to give these back, manifold times, to humanity, Lets adopt the slogan of 'Don't you waste food', and commit to it at home, workspaces, restaurants and banquets, practising and professing this with compassion and affection.

Jayanti Ravi, The author is a Harvard-educated civil servant & writer, and has worked in the education sector 
jayanti.ravi.dna@gmail.com