Eating is political! — That’s why I am a part of Κυκλοφορία
Hi, I’m Torge and I was convinced.
Convinced that food waste is an important problem that needs to be addressed.
In Germany, where I study political science, I wasn’t particularly interested in food waste. That was rarely an issue for me.
Vegetables were often in my fridge for too long to be thrown away. Eating in the university cafeteria or at the kebab shop around the corner was more attractive than the broccoli or the turnip in my fridge.
So swosh … there was already half a kilo of food in the bin.
Of course I was aware of my waste, but there are always ways to put his actions into perspective. I mean: Finding excuses is easy.
“One of my daily excuses: see how much food is thrown away in supermarkets and restaurants. My few beets are not important here. “
But that’s not true!
So I am very grateful for the opportunity and the experience that Franziska, Annabella and Eloise have given me. I quickly realized that we were wasting far too much food. And when I slowly worked my way into the topic, the following memory occurred to me. Our overproduction also encourages completely different political mistakes. We can’t see them, but they are massive.
When I visited my then girlfriend in Ghana in 2013 and we decided to have dinner in a restaurant in Accra, the capital. Iwas looking forward to ordering a chicken with rice.
Hungry as I was, I waited for my dish on an empty stomach. When the waiter finally brought me the food, I didn’t find a chicken like I was used to from Europe. Chicken breast and wings were not there. Only the supposed remains of the chicken were there on my plate. The skinny chicken wings. I wondered where the rest of the chicken had gone.
Until my friend explained to me that this rooster had a long way to go before it was on my plate. Ghana exports up to 135,000 tons of chickens from the European Union.
So while the discounter in Germany sells the precious “Hünchenschnitzel”, Filet or Wings, the leftovers are sold in African countries. These products then flood local trade at dumping prices and drive local dealers into ruin. Because mostly the frozen chicken from Europe is below the production costs of the African farmers.
As a result, the EU poultry producers profitably dispose of the unwanted chicken parts that are waste products in Europe in Africa.
So I learned, Eating was that strange to my studies. Rather, one can determine:
Eating is political!
If you decide to buy meat and vegetables at dumping prices in the supermarket, you support the exploitation of the poorest of the poor.
That’s why we try to save as much food as possible at Κυκλοφορία. To create awareness that food was not made for the garbage can. But for the people.
