I have to step up on a soapbox now. Most of you know of my desire to tackle the hunger problem in the United States and the world at large. That’s one reason I started the MARY’s secret ingredients subscription box business, as we are donating 10% of our profits to Feed The Children in their work to support a wide range of services to empower communities and wipeout hunger worldwide. No one should go hungry. In the US alone, over 48 million people suffer from food scarcity and over 15 million children go to bed hungry every night. In our super rich country, this is an atrocity. On the other side of the coin, the amount of food waste is horrendous.
Take a look at this John Oliver video:
Clearly this is a distribution problem. How can we get surpluses of food to the folks who need it?
And apparently many expiration dates on food are arbitrary at best. Maybe they’re put on to increase sales earlier as no decent grocery store will sell expired products and of course, they must restock.
When we lived in Summit, NJ, I made a discovery late one night at Kings, an upscale grocery store, with headquarters in the UK. I was in the store shopping a little before their 10 pm closing time and the woman in the bakery and bread department was going around filling shopping carts with loaves of bread and other bakery items. The bread was mounded high, the carts were overflowing.
I asked her what she was going to do with that. She said she couldn’t tell me.
I said, “Aw come on, please tell me.”
She said, “No I can’t.”
I pleaded, “Pleeeaase.”
She moved closer to me, cupped her hand near her mouth and whispered, “We throw it away.”
I was speechless.
She was embarrassed.
It was perfectly good bread, just not at its very freshest peak and Kings was such a high-class store, they didn’t even want to have a day-old rack. So they just threw it away.
At that point, after numerous letters written to the store’s corporate offices to get permission, I started a pick-up program twice a week for bread and once a week for the gently bruised fruits they also threw away. So three times a week, I filled our station wagon with food and delivered it to organizations that fed the hungry. It was a tiny bit I could do then. I hope to do more with MARY’s secret ingredients.
Today is the last day to purchase a fall box. We still have a few left. Buy one and surprise yourself with healthy ingredients and help us in our cause to feed the hungry.
Having enough to eat should not be a privilege. It is a basic human right.
Also, we’re having a TWITTER PARTY today (9/25) at 1 pm EST!! You can ask me cooking questions and I’ll ask you some too. Should be loads of fun! Join us!!
Eggplant Tarts Make a Great Tuscan Starter Dish
2016 Winter Subscription Box Revealed
Revealing our Gluten Free Fall Box!!!
Faces of Hunger Film Festival in NYC
Summer 2016 MARY’s secret ingredients box revealed
What a shame. So many many hungry people. Here the markets send their produce and bakery items at the end of the day to the Manna Food Pantries where it is shared with the community members in need.
Jovina Coughlin recently posted…Soups for Fall Days
Great solution and great to hear, Jovina. Thanks!!
You have such a big heart, Mary! I love businesses like yours that give back to the community. Thanks for all that you do!!!
Liz recently posted…Week 2 of The Halloween Project #TheHalloweenProject
Thank you Liz.
was she serious about dumping all the bread away? Waste aside, I am very sure they can be reused in the bakery or the workers there can bring home…I hate waste and always reuse the old bread in new bread or make them into breadcrumbs or in patties.
Thanks for sharing, Mary.
Angie@Angie’s Recipes recently posted…Einkorn Coconut Cookies with Avocado and Raisin
Thank you Angie.
How do you use old bread in new bread?
That is very admirable Mary! We have a couple of organisations that redistribute food in some but not all states in Australia. I think if people only knew how much food was wasted then they would be horrified.
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella recently posted…Effervescent Lemonade Meringue Donuts Now With Extra Fizz!
Exactly Lorraine. I hope to bring some attention to the whole situation.
So great to know that you can make a difference. Here in HK there is a group called feeding HK that picks up food from restaurants and grocery stores to help feed the poor in the soup kitchen. Food waste is huge in HK so this company is making a big difference.
Bam’s Kitchen recently posted…Baby Shower Potluck & GIVEAWAY
That’s great to hear, Bobbi Ann!!
It make me sick when I think of all the waste. Here in my hometown a lot of food is donated to the homeless shelters. For myself I compost all my scraps and I have a worm box that produces the best fertilizer for my garden.
That’s great Gerlinde!!! At our building in Manhattan, we have also just started composting.
Waste from restaurants and supermarkets is a problem over here too but there are signs that it’s improving. What a good thing you did!
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef recently posted…EasyIndex WordPress Index Plugin has Launched!
We’ve all got to do something about it – right?
Thanks Mary— an important topic, we just tend to ignore…
Rhonda Sittig recently posted…Early Theme Adopters: Libre
Exactly Rhonda – thanks for stopping by!!
I agree that the wasting of food and food products is a crime. It is important for the restaurants, hotels and supermarkets to find a way to distribute the food waste to the people who need it! Nice post! Thanks!