Food. We all need it. We love it too. It brings us together. It strengthens communities. It can be a source of pride, for example in a community that produces a specific cheese.
In Madagascar, Zebu is not only cattle, but a national symbol. They are valued very highly and duly respected. Zebu can be transport, pride, wealth, farming resources, fertilizer providers and food. I’m sure much more too. It seemed to me that Zebu have replaced the dog as ‘a man/woman’s best friend’.
Food is a hugely important part of our lives. In a few days millions of us will sit down to have a Christmas meal. Millions of others will share food for different festivals and celebrations all year around. We hope that you will join our GROW campaign, to push to ensure that everyone always has enough to eat.
Here are a couple of stories from our volunteers tonight. One which is particularly striking in relation to our GROW campaign. Edwin is a chef. Tonight he was an Oxfam volunteer at a Coldplay show. When I asked him about what he thought about food, he said this:
“Es tut ihm in der Seele weh, wenn so viele úbriggesliebenen Geridte weggeschmissen werden, besonders bei beireits bezahlten Buffets. Er versucht die Reste aufuhesen und vestecht sie wandmal um etwan fúr eine weitere Party oder Buffet zu benutzen, einfad etwan Neuer daraus zu machen lu Berlin ist es redt komplizeit lebensmittel zu spenden, weistens schmeizen die leute es lieber wegm als durch die komplizierte prozedur zu zehen. Es ist eben der leidtere weg.
(Here is the translation with some further words from Edwin’s partner, Britta. I apologise for any mistakes which I have made in writing this out).
“It hurts me when we throw so much away, especially from the buffet, which has already been paid for so they just don’t care and throw it away. So I try to keep the leftovers. I hide them so that I can try to make something else with them later, for the next event. There is no organisation here in Berlin where you can donate leftovers. It’s very complicated here. People would rather throw it away because they won’t just take anything. So the chef would rather throw it away so they don’t get into trouble”.
This is an example, here in Germany, of how we routinely waste huge amounts of food. It is something that we have got used to. In restaurants, cafes, markets, shops, kitchens all over the place. Where there is food, there is usually waste disposal, not just used for onion peelings. We throw good food away every day. If we are used to doing this, we need to change. We need to get used to a different way of eating and preparing food. If some people cannot put a meal on a plate, how can we scrape it off another?
There are examples like this everywhere. It is not right to suggest that if we never threw any food away where there is food available, that suddenly that food could be eaten by somebody who has less. That would be too simple a solution for too deep a problem. While this isn’t a problem that is quick or easy to solve, it is time that we tried to work together to change some of this injustice. To make a system more fair. To be hungry for change.
Max volunteered with Oxfam tonight. He works for Oxfam Germany. He wanted to say this:
“Normalerweise schreibe ich für Oxfam im Social Web, bei Facebook und Twitter. Auch dort zeigen die Menschen großes Interesse und twittern fleißig unter dem Motto #lovefoodhateinjustice. Das Schöne bei Konzerten ist aber, direkt zu sehen, wie die Menschen reagieren, dass sie offen und interessiert sind. Die Fotos mit dem Maiskolben sind auf jeden Fall sehr beliebt”.
(Translation) “Normally, I write messages on Facebook and Twitter. People there are very interested and using the hashtag #lovefoodhateinjustice. The nice thing about concerts is to see directly how people react – that they are open-minded and interested. The photos with the corn costume guy are popular too”.
I agree with Max. It has been good to see you all on this tour. It has been great to know that so many people are open to joining GROW, that Coldplay fans want to know more and show support for this cause. It’s come to an end now. It’s been a real whirlwind. Great to be back and now great to be heading home for Christmas. I hope that you have all enjoyed both the concerts and meeting Oxfam along the way. Keep an eye out for more GROW actions coming up, because we need to take you with us.
A couple of other snippets from my day:
Just watched head of security, Dave, shaking handfuls of lanyards to make a sleigh bells noise.
Production assistant, Lizzie, is wearing a santa hat with her pink wristband tied around it (which looked fun during ‘Paradise’ when it was flashing pink – very festive.
Coldplay played an incredible set tonight. The crowd was totally wrapped up in the performance and the roar which went up and up after they had left the stage before the encore was phenomenal. Thousands of people screaming and shouting for more. I wonder what it would sound like if all those people screamed and shouted for more food for people without enough. You definitely couldn’t ignore that…
We’re packing up the road cases now. The Oxfam case will be going back to Oxfam for a little while.
Too much waste
Posted by Pete Lusby on 21 December 2011
In Madagascar, Zebu is not only cattle, but a national symbol. They are valued very highly and duly respected. Zebu can be transport, pride, wealth, farming resources, fertilizer providers and food. I’m sure much more too. It seemed to me that Zebu have replaced the dog as ‘a man/woman’s best friend’.
Food is a hugely important part of our lives. In a few days millions of us will sit down to have a Christmas meal. Millions of others will share food for different festivals and celebrations all year around. We hope that you will join our GROW campaign, to push to ensure that everyone always has enough to eat.
Here are a couple of stories from our volunteers tonight. One which is particularly striking in relation to our GROW campaign. Edwin is a chef. Tonight he was an Oxfam volunteer at a Coldplay show. When I asked him about what he thought about food, he said this:
“Es tut ihm in der Seele weh, wenn so viele úbriggesliebenen Geridte weggeschmissen werden, besonders bei beireits bezahlten Buffets. Er versucht die Reste aufuhesen und vestecht sie wandmal um etwan fúr eine weitere Party oder Buffet zu benutzen, einfad etwan Neuer daraus zu machen lu Berlin ist es redt komplizeit lebensmittel zu spenden, weistens schmeizen die leute es lieber wegm als durch die komplizierte prozedur zu zehen. Es ist eben der leidtere weg.
(Here is the translation with some further words from Edwin’s partner, Britta. I apologise for any mistakes which I have made in writing this out).
“It hurts me when we throw so much away, especially from the buffet, which has already been paid for so they just don’t care and throw it away. So I try to keep the leftovers. I hide them so that I can try to make something else with them later, for the next event. There is no organisation here in Berlin where you can donate leftovers. It’s very complicated here. People would rather throw it away because they won’t just take anything. So the chef would rather throw it away so they don’t get into trouble”.
This is an example, here in Germany, of how we routinely waste huge amounts of food. It is something that we have got used to. In restaurants, cafes, markets, shops, kitchens all over the place. Where there is food, there is usually waste disposal, not just used for onion peelings. We throw good food away every day. If we are used to doing this, we need to change. We need to get used to a different way of eating and preparing food. If some people cannot put a meal on a plate, how can we scrape it off another?
There are examples like this everywhere. It is not right to suggest that if we never threw any food away where there is food available, that suddenly that food could be eaten by somebody who has less. That would be too simple a solution for too deep a problem. While this isn’t a problem that is quick or easy to solve, it is time that we tried to work together to change some of this injustice. To make a system more fair. To be hungry for change.
Max volunteered with Oxfam tonight. He works for Oxfam Germany. He wanted to say this:
“Normalerweise schreibe ich für Oxfam im Social Web, bei Facebook und Twitter. Auch dort zeigen die Menschen großes Interesse und twittern fleißig unter dem Motto #lovefoodhateinjustice. Das Schöne bei Konzerten ist aber, direkt zu sehen, wie die Menschen reagieren, dass sie offen und interessiert sind. Die Fotos mit dem Maiskolben sind auf jeden Fall sehr beliebt”.
(Translation) “Normally, I write messages on Facebook and Twitter. People there are very interested and using the hashtag #lovefoodhateinjustice. The nice thing about concerts is to see directly how people react – that they are open-minded and interested. The photos with the corn costume guy are popular too”.
I agree with Max. It has been good to see you all on this tour. It has been great to know that so many people are open to joining GROW, that Coldplay fans want to know more and show support for this cause. It’s come to an end now. It’s been a real whirlwind. Great to be back and now great to be heading home for Christmas. I hope that you have all enjoyed both the concerts and meeting Oxfam along the way. Keep an eye out for more GROW actions coming up, because we need to take you with us.
A couple of other snippets from my day:
Just watched head of security, Dave, shaking handfuls of lanyards to make a sleigh bells noise.
Production assistant, Lizzie, is wearing a santa hat with her pink wristband tied around it (which looked fun during ‘Paradise’ when it was flashing pink – very festive.
Coldplay played an incredible set tonight. The crowd was totally wrapped up in the performance and the roar which went up and up after they had left the stage before the encore was phenomenal. Thousands of people screaming and shouting for more. I wonder what it would sound like if all those people screamed and shouted for more food for people without enough. You definitely couldn’t ignore that…
We’re packing up the road cases now. The Oxfam case will be going back to Oxfam for a little while.
We’ll see you soon.
Pete