Community Corner: Fight Global Hunger In Your Kitchen
SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - Celebrity chefs, restaurants and families across San Francisco and the United States will team up with international relief and development organization Oxfam America to fight global hunger in honor of World Food Day this Tuesday, October 16th.
Global food prices have skyrocketed to near record levels leaving tens of millions of people at risk of hunger. Vicky Rateau, Campaign Manager for Oxfam's GROW Campaign, says there are simple things people can do in their kitchens right now to address this global issue.
KCBS' Connie C. Kim talks to Vicky Rateau, Campaign Manager for Oxfam's GROW Campaign:
Unlike most anti-hunger efforts, Oxfam isn't asking for people to donate their money or food. In fact they will be giving away free recipes, placemats and other great materials for people to host their own meals for World Food Day.
Using recipes specially designed by prominent chefs like Mario Batali, Jamie Oliver, Lidia Bastianich, and Aarti Sequeira, hundreds of families will host family meals that follow Oxfam's GROW Method, 5 simple changes to how we buy, prepare and store food to help fight hunger in our daily lives.
These five things are:
1. Wasting less or saving food
2. Shopping local or buying seasonal foods
3. Supporting small farmers
4. Cutting back on the amount of meat or dairy consumed
5. Cooking smarter
An example of cooking smarter is to boil water with the lid on the pot and to use a flat bottom pan to save energy, Rateau said.
"We probably throw away 1 out of 5 apples which adds up to 5.3 billion apples," Rateau offered an example of waste. "But there are little things we can do to keep apples fresher. We can throw them in bags in our refrigerators to extend the life."
Rateau said among the number of changes she personally made in her own kitchen, one thing was to cut back on meat since learning that cutting one meal a week for a family of four saves about 17 bathtubs of water.
Find out more about World Food Day at: www.oxfamamerica.org/worldfoodday
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