Food Not Bombs

Everyone should check out this website
http://www.foodnotbombs.net/

I am hispanic, therefore I think wasting food is a sin. It always disgusted me how people so easily throw away the food they don't want when there is a homeless person right outside who would gladly take it.

And how food safety laws make it impossible for grocery stores to give away their unsold produce to shelters. It annoys me how stocked up every grocery store is at all times just for the aesthetic value, when 80 percent of the produce is going to go unsold and in the garbage.

So when I found this site, about groups organizing to get unsold produce from markets to make food for the homeless, I had to get involved. I went to a local group just this past weekend and it was a lot of fun. The first stop we went to people were a little picky about the food they were given. I think they were "Occupy LA" people. When we went to skid row to give people the leftovers, people did not care if their peach was a little mushy, they swarmed us to get whatever they can and the food was gone instantly.

What I did notice that was kind of sad, at least at our first stop, was how much salt and hot sauce people put on their food. And I thought I was a salt addict! I like salty things but never add salt to my food after it has been prepared, nor does anyone I have ever eaten food with. All I could see when people were adding so much salt to their food was "this is high blood pressure waiting to happen." It is a big problem nowadays with impoverished people having incredibly poor diets. It used to be that healthy food like fruits and veggies were the cheapest and processed and junk food were the luxury items only the rich could afford. I am glad at at least one organization is conscious about the food given out.

I don't agree with he fact that we had table salt (not sea salt, table salt) out for people to freely consumed, but serving vegan plant based meals is a million times better than serving the canned food and junk food that other organizations serve to the needy. And as someone who has worked in places where people freely threw away left over food, not because it had gone bad, but because no one wanted it, I know there is no shortage of food to give away.