- checking login information
Loading...3 Ways to Celebrate World Food Day Every Day
World Food Day is October 16th this year, but every day offers an opportunity to think about food, honor those who work to bring it to our tables and contemplate the meaning of the choices we make with every mouthful.
This year’s theme is “Food prices – from crisis to stability.” As food prices rise, the poor are hardest hit. The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is asking us to “look seriously at what causes swings in food prices, and do what needs to be done to reduce their impact on the weakest members of society.”
Out of dozens of ways to commemorate World Food Day on the 16th and beyond, here are three in keeping with the theme:
1. Join the TeleFood campaign
Every year since 1997 millions of viewers around the world have watched or participated in broadcasts, concerts, sporting events, charity dinners, auctions, and other activities that support FAO’s TeleFood campaign. Thanks to the generosity of sponsors, viewers and participants, the campaign has raised more than $29 million and funded more than 3200 projects in 130 countries around the world.
The donations support “small, self-contained agriculture, livestock and fisheries projects that help poor families produce more food; not a penny is spent on administrative costs.”
Watch for, or host, TeleFood activities in your own city, and be a part of this global initiative to help poor families and rural communities produce more food and more income.
2. Speak for Those Who Live in Chronic Hunger
Join the global movement to end hunger. That a billion people live in chronic hunger shows a failure on the part of governments, corporations and ordinary people to acknowledge that food is a basic human right.
Ending Hunger’s short video, “Hunger: what you need to know,” has a simple message: “The fact is we already know what works against hunger but most countries have never made it a priority.”
Use the video as a discussion springboard. Decide what you will do to act against this intolerable situation.
3. Thank the Farmers
On World Food Day, when you dine with family or friends, or even on your own, pause to give thanks to the farmers who grew and raised the food. Oxfam America offers a variety of free resources that can be downloaded from the site or ordered. Use them on the 16th, on the U.S. Food Day, October 24th, or any day.
Host a potluck and have people make dishes from one of the generous chefs who contributed recipes. Show videos from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, food activist Frances Moore Lappé, Iowa farmer Ellen Walsh-Rosmann, Buddhist Global Relief and Islamic Relief USA.
Set the table with the downloadable placemats that let you “Meet the farmers who put food on the table.” Facilitate discussion with the “Sunday Dinner Discussion Guide.”
Whatever you do on World Food Day, make October 16th a chance to focus on one of the most vital issues in all our lives: food.
Related Care2 Stories
Is India the Canary in the Hunger Mineshaft
World Faces Permanent Food Crisis, Oxfam Report Says
Fueling Hunger
Read more: famine, food production, hunger, world food day, world food prices
Photo from Alex E. Proimos via Flickr Creative Commons
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
Recent Comments from Causes
Ron , i'm so glad you understand the way other people not in law enforcement feel about our dogs. here…
I have mixed feelings about the tuition fee increases here in Quebec. When I attended university in the…
And you conveniently avoid the realization that you are passing judgment on the rest of us by insisting…
meet our writers
50 comments
+ add your ownThank YOU - great ideas!
Thanks for the article.
I find it interesting that there is an ad for a gout medication often on this website (one of the sponsors connected to the click-to-donate section)-- this is an illness sometimes connected to people eating too many rich foods!
Agreed, there is enough food in our bread basin, to feed the planet 5 x over, if we fed people, rather than cattle. Takes 1000s of gallons water/ 1000s lbs grain/ and 1000s of feet of grazing land to raise each pound of flesh... each pound of beef..... and u waste 1/2 of it!!
each lb beef requires easily 5-7000 gallons water, 300-500 lbs grain
think one less burger per week, and u could feed a village of 500 people w/ bread & water!!
Pledge to cut ur meat consumption , even if only cut by 1 burger / week!!
or switch to chicken that uses less resources & is healthier for ur heart.
Of course there's enough food. Our wastes are almost as much as our consumptions. We're just greedily eating away, fattening ourselves without any limits. Pure indulgence in processed foods these days.
Chronic Hunger- two words that should never be in the same sentence-sad.. thank you for the article..
Voted and signed. Maybe have enough food, but the food is not correctly distributed.
shortage of food is a catastrophe. population explosion causes it, i think.
I think that the best way for humanity to move from crisis to stability is - eat less meat, have smaller families, and adopt more sustainable economic rules (eg some changed suggested by CASSE at http://steadystate.org ).
Please go to www.freerice.com and play until your brain hurts! For every correct answer, 10 grains of rice will be donated to hungry children around the world. There are many subjects, ranging from vocabulary, math, famous paintings, and geography. This wonderful donation of rice costs you nothing but your brain power.
login to add your comment
use your care2 login
add your comment
20