Feeding the 5000 and saving the world

The day may have been bitterly cold, with snow sometimes blurring our view of the people making speeches and doing demonstrations on the stage in front of the National Gallery, but the mood at Feeding the 5000 was as warm as the plates of steaming vegetable curry being handed out to the hungry Trafalgar Square crowd.

SOME 5,000 free meals were served up yesterday – and there was much more than the biblical five loaves and two fish on offer. The  ishes were made from food that doesn’t look good enough for the supermarkets and was served up to highlight food waste. Soups,  urries and smoothies were made from the six tonnes of ‘misshapen’ fruit and vegetables donated by farmers and producers. Organisers  f the lunchtime event said the food involved would otherwise have been sent to landfill sites or recycled.

Vegetable curry was made with vegetables too oddly shaped, coloured or sized to make it to supermarket shelves, smoothies were whipped up from unwanted fruit rescued from a London wholesaler, and goody bags of fruit, vegetables and fresh herbs were handed out to all attendees.

The event was organised by  ristram Stuart – a journalist and author of Waste: Uncovering The Global Food Scandal – to demonstrate how food supplies can be  etter used. ‘Feeding the 5,000 is a wonderful partnership which includes food companies, farmers and charities,’ said Mr Stuart, whose  vent was held in Trafalgar Square, central London, from noon to 2pm. ‘The aim of our lunchtime feast is to highlight how food waste can  e avoided by putting food to good use – that is, feeding people.’ British households waste a quarter of all food they buy – about £480  orth a year, Mr Stuart added. FareShare, a food supply charity, said about 4million people cannot afford a healthy diet.