World Food Day, celebrated annually on October 16, is one of the most crucial days on the calendar and was first celebrated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the UN. The objective is to spread awareness about those who are affected by the hunger issue in the world through events held across 150 countries. The global goal for World Food Day is Zero Hunger by 2030. Curtailing food wastage, employing methods to eradicate world hunger are some of the main actionable insights defined by the FAO.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization believes that “Whether you’re a business, farmer, government representative or simply someone that’s willing to make a change, you can take action for #ZeroHunger.”
It is the need of the hour to promote sustainable living and reducing your carbon footprint as much as possible by making simple yet effective changes to your means of transportation, energy consumption, and diet. Being mindful of what you eat or how you cook goes a long way towards ensuring a healthier lifestyle. If you follow a regular diet and cheat seldom on it, you can ensure good health and better living, not just for yourself but also for your entire family.
With organic farming and organic food gaining momentum, it’s only right to believe that we’ve begun taking steps in the right direction towards ensuring we live better and leave a better world for posterity.
Read on for some tips to contribute towards Zero Hunger at your end:
1) Healthy eating, sustainable living:
Healthy living doesn’t have to be an exorbitant habit. Eat smaller meals to save its effects on your physical and financial health. Follow cooking blogs/videos that teach easy-to-make recipes that uses easily-acquired items for the recipe.
2) Avoid wasting food:
The first step is to only serve as much as you can eat at one go. There’s always a chance of another helping should you still feel hungry. Piling your plate up and not being able to eat it all, hence waste it, is no less than a social evil and must be avoided at all cost. If you’ve cooked, keep the leftovers for later consumption in the refrigerator. Incase you’re eating out, order half a portion of what you would normally eat and repeat the order if necessary. If there are still some leftovers, you can always get it packed into doggy bags and bring them home.
3) Grow your food:
If you can manage some space in your home, try and grow your own food and simple vegetables like gourds, cabbage, broccoli, tomatoes, to begin with. It’s healthier and cost effective because you’ve grown it on your own, besides it’s been nurtured by you since the food was merely a seed (literally). Most of all, gardening and being amidst nature also helps you stay calmer, happier, and promotes mental health.
4) Give yourself a reality check when you go grocery shopping:
Buy only what you need, even if it’s something that has an expiry date three years hence. If you’re picking up some seasoning to have with a baked dish in the winters, add it to the cart in the onset of winters. Good thing is that we don’t go into hibernation in the winters hence one doesn’t need to prepare well-in-advance.
5) Cooking is an art:
Cooking is an art for someone who truly enjoys doing it and is ready to experiment with food. One can make an easy dal-roti on a daily basis, but using the same dal to make dal khichdi, bisibele bhat or sambhar (all three use arhar/toor dal) can account for creativity. Ever had your mom tell you which dal can or cannot be eaten with roti or rice? Who says it can’t be tried?
All of us can make a huge difference by doing our bit. Together we can achieve #ZeroHunger and make sure that no one has to wait for a miracle to be fed on a daily basis. Remember that everytime you waste a morsel, someone can be fed and live.
First Published: Oct 16, 2018 15:00 IST
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