FareShare & Feeding The 5000: Free Food Event In Trafalgar Square

by amyellensoden | December 16, 2009 at 04:00 pm

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Thousands of people in the London area showed up at Trafalgar Square today to receive a free lunch to raise awareness for the issue of food waste. Non-profit organization FareShare partnered with a group called Feeding the 5,000 to organize the free food event to highlight the issue of wasted food that took place in Central London today at 12:00pm.

Free lunch was available at the event, consisting of fruit smoothies, curried vegetables, and soups. Lots of produce was given away, particularly items that wouldn't sell in shops or farmers' markets due to their condition. The event's emphasis was on not letting food go to waste. The fruits and vegetables available may have been slightly battered or misshaped, but still completely edible. Normally, such produce would end up in the landfill.

A group called Feeding the 5,000 planned the event in partnership with FareShare, a non-profit organization that collects and distributes excess food to almost 30,000 people a day.

The event also included cooking lessons from leading chefs such as Thomasina Miers, and organizers said they hoped the people who came for a free lunch also picked up some tips on how to avoid wasting food.

Just like the group name suggests, Feeding the 5,000 (as well as FareShare) hoped to feed up to 5,000 people today in Trafalgar Square with the donated food from volunteers and many farmers. The event, organized chiefly buy author Tristram Stuart, combines the efforts of farmers, charities, and various food companies.

The free food event made use of approximately 6 tonnes of food that would have otherwise gone to waste and been thrown away. An estimated 8.3 million tonnes of food goes to waste each year. The organizers of the event hope to raise awareness for the value of food and how we often take its availability for granted.