Today's highlight was the surprise of a banana, a lovely present from my wonderful wife. This cost us 9p, which along with another 4 pints of milk, takes our total weekly spend to £13.94, so still another 6p left to spend. 3/4 of a banana (I did share it) was just what I needed after a 6 mile run.
One of the things that made today a little harder for both of us we being in close proximity to food that we were unable to eat. I had a meeting this evening with a tasty looking buffet, and my wife first of all made some chocolate treats for a school party tomorrow, and then iced a cake for an icing demo she's doing on Friday. Our children have not been taking part in the challenge, and a nightly temptation is to finish off the food left on their plates.
In many places wealth and poverty exist in close proximity. Those who have alongside those who do not. Those with more than enough to eat next to those with nothing. Sometimes we are physically reminded that we have so much and others have so little. At other times it can be easy to forget that we are at the top of the pile.
The UN Committee on World Food Security have been meeting this week in Rome, and on Monday Ban Ki-moon sent a message in which he reminded delegates that "There is more than enough food on the planet to feed everyone, yet today nearly 1 billion people will go hungry because food is unavailable or unaffordable. This is the context in which you meet." If help is going to reach those at the bottom, something will have to change in those of us who are at the top.
