Food (Photo credit: NickNguyen)

Guest Blogger Anne Timpany on World Food Day:

World Food Day is a day to raise awareness of the topic of food security for all. In our culture, we often lose sight of the extent to which we are interconnected with the larger whole of humanity, and this degree of unconsciousness is prevalent in our daily eating habits.   We enjoy a luxurious standard of living in the western world, and have gotten accustomed to a way of eating that may not, in fact, support the greatest good for all.  How is it possible that, on this bountiful and abundant planet, that there are nearly one billion people that are hungry?   That is nearly one in six people.  Look around you; every sixth person you see represents someone in the world who is hungry or malnourished.  Our world agricultural systems produce enough food for every human on the planet to consume adequate calories, yet a wide disparity exists between those who have so much to eat that we have become an obese culture, and those cultures that have so little to eat that a child dies every three seconds somewhere in the world.

There are many factors involved in the complex subject of food security, but one arena in which every single one of us can make a difference, is by becoming conscious of the food that we put into our mouths and perhaps becoming more selective.  For example, our culture is heavily skewed toward eating meat at nearly every meal.  Yet when we look at the global picture, we can see that this is not the most effective use of our precious resources.

According to the USDA and the United Nations, one acre of land used for raising beef cattle yields twenty pounds of usable protein.  If soybeans were grown instead, the yield would be 356 pounds of usable protein.  Twenty vegetarians can live off the land required for a single meat-eater.  In 2009, the U.S. produced 208 pounds of meat per person for domestic consumption alone, almost 60 percent more than Europe.   If Americans reduced our meat consumption by only ten percent, it would free up twelve million tons of grain, allowing those resources to be consumed by people rather than animals—enough to feed sixty million people (the population of Great Britain.)

You need not immediately convert to veganism in a quest to save the world, but rather, start by taking small steps in the knowing that every little action does make a difference.  “Meatless Mondays” are a popular and easy way to begin reducing one’s meat intake and thus live in greater harmony with the whole.  Another approach is simply to focus upon eating more vegetables, fruits, and grains rather than focusing upon what you’ll eat less of, which is meat and dairy.   Even choosing smaller portions is a big step in the reduction of our culture of excess and overconsumption.

Making mealtime an expression of your intention to live consciously can be a powerful practice.  With every morsel you put into your body, you are making a statement about the kind of world you want to live in.  “Be the change you want to see in the world,” said Gandhi.  What kind of world do you want to create?   Pay attention to your food intake and see what happens when you bring conscious intention to the act of eating.  What changes for you?

Learn more about World Food Day.

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