Food for thought

Do you waste food too?

Ramadan has started and so have begun the Iftar parties and Suhour gatherings. Recently, I was overjoyed when we were invited to a wonderful party.

I enjoyed a lot there. Everything was exciting. The food items were delicious. A raffle draw was organised too. The fortunate ones got gift vouchers, a few others got expensive gift hampers and the luckiest one got a Sony Bravia TV. It was an evening full of enthusiasm and one of the best and unforgettable moments in my life.

Yet I was sad as I saw a lot of food and drinks being wasted. People stuffed a lot of food on their plates but they ate only a little and left the remaining food on the plates. The waiters came and threw the food in the dustbin. The drinks met the same fate. A big amount of food and drinks on the table was wasted in a similar manner.

It would have been better if the money spent on parties would have gone to charity. It’s the month of Ramadan and the organisers would have got big rewards from Allah for the charity. In Ramadan, the rewards gained by giving charity are multiplied too.

Alternatively, the amount of food wasted could have been offered to those who couldn’t afford it. The money spent on the expensive gift hampers could have been donated to a country or city whose inhabitants are suffering from a lot of difficulties.

Or simply this money could have been donated to the UAE Suqia, the Water Aid campaign launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on the first day of Ramadan, to provide access to fresh drinking water for 5 million persons around the world.

(Published in The Gulf Today on July 19, 2014)