My kitchen is the heart of my home. My friends all like to hang out in there instead of in my more spacious living room.
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My kitchen is the heart of my home. My friends all like to hang out in there instead of in my more spacious living room.
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Don't Just Read About ItI've read about the issue of “waste food” and also written about it. I've watched endless TV programmes explaining why food shouldn't be wasted, and how we should all do our part to tackle the problem, but all this just left me wondering just what I could do about it. I've recently had an opportunity to chat about this issue with some of the volunteers at Lancaster People's Cafe, a locally-based charity. There's plenty of enthusiasm to be found there and a nice lady volunteer talked me through their organisation. She explained to me that the over-stocked food which supermarkets normally just throw away is stored first at a local distribution point. Once a month the charity goes there and collects some of this food, then cooks and prepares it during one of their monthly open day events. When she asked me if I'd like to go with her to the next collection, I was more than positive. I marked the date on my calendar and counted down the days. A White Van is all you NeedThe big day arrived. I didn't know what to expect but I was prepared for anything. The nice lady showed up with another volunteer. We squeezed into the front of a battered white van that showed all the signs of having had many adventures, and set off. I never thought, at my age, that being squashed, bound up in a seat belt that was too tight for me and perched on a not very comfortable seat could be so much fun. I was enjoying myself in a way I hadn't done for ages. After a brief journey, with a short stop at a Booth's supermarket (part of the scheme) to collect a huge amount of bread, we arrived at the distribution point. FareShare – no one should go hungryThere are several organizations that collect surplus food and distribute it to charities and community groups like Lancaster People's Cafe. FareShare is one of these. This national food charity is a member of both the Global Food Banking Network and the European Federation of Food Banks. FareShare's distribution point in NW England is run by Recycling Lives Food Distribution Centre, which provides food for over sixty-nine community food groups As I said, I had no idea what to expect. We entered a massive warehouse, divided into aisles by huge steel beams. I was overwhelmed at the sheer scale of the rows of pallets, stacked one on top of the other almost to the roof. Each pallet held tins, boxes and bottles, all wrapped in clingfilm to form massive cubes of food. Around the warehouse perimeter boxes of perfectly edible vegetables were lined up. As I stood there taking it all in I saw a DLH truck arrive, from which, using a fork lift truck, one of the warehouse workers unloaded yet more pallets of food and took them off to another part of the warehouse. Food and Human RelationshipsWhile I wandered about between the stacks of pallets, wondering at the sheer quantity of food that is discarded on a daily basis, our two volunteers went 'shopping'. They filled a large trolley with cheeses, oranges, peppers and other goodies that otherwise – and it's important to remember this – would simply have been thrown away, wasted. Being nosy by nature I wandered into the control room, where I had an opportunity to chat with the lovely lady in charge of the whole show. She was happy to give me a brief insight into the complex business of saving food from going to landfill. She had all the facts and figures at her fingertips, and I was so absorbed by her account that I didn't realize out time was up and we had to go. An Incredible JourneyThe van was loaded up and we set off back to Lancaster. During the journey, the two volunteers brainstormed about recipes they could prepare using the ingredients they had gathered. Curries, dips, cakes, soups – they created recipes then and there. They listed which recipes had previously been a success and which hadn't gone down very well. I simply couldn't keep up with them. Also, my hands were busy holding myself steady as the van swayed about so I couldn't write anything down. In just a few hours I had learned about the vast scale of the food waste problem and how important it is to do something about it. I learned about the huge number of people who are involved in creating an alternative. There are people from all walks of life volunteering their time and skill to help others who, though no fault of their own, may find themselves in need. I'm told that the white van is going to be sold. I only rode in it that one time, but it was enough for me to become fond of it. In my life I've made several memorable journeys, some comfortable, others less so, but few compare with that unique trip to a warehouse, squeezed into the front of a white van.
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AuthorI love cooking, and when it comes to quality I'm quite fussy. Archives
February 2018
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