Think about the hungry before wasting food
Hunger now scars the lives of more than 1 billion people across the world. So world leaders gathered for a UN summit in Rome on Nov 16 to debate what to do about it.
As a former goodwill ambassador for the World Food Programme (WFP), I can sense how the meeting may go. There will be more media on the politicians than the substance, an abundance of speeches, and a series of oddly fancy luncheons - with more speeches. At a similar luncheon, I remember wondering: What if I could magically transfer the 1,000 calories in this vanilla souffl in front of me to a malnourished child begging in the slums of Nairobi? Sharing the extra calories eaten in the US or Europe alone would end hunger in Africa.
These gratifying fantasies highlight some terrible inequities in how the world handles its food supply. In 2006, WFP prepared, but never publicly released, a map charting food consumption.
