Last Sunday, September 21st, I completed my second annual Ride for Food on behalf of Food For Free, the scrappy Cambridge nonprofit I work for part-time. We are an anti-hunger organization that uses anti-waste tactics: we rescue fresh, nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste, and then we get that food to people who need it.
It’s a satisfyingly simply concept, and I love the quietly radical notion behind what we do: to fill the needs of the world, we don’t need more “stuff” (in this case food)—instead, what we need is a more sustainable, equitable way of ensuring access to the stuff/food we already have.
(Quick summary: about 40% of food produced in the U.S. ultimately goes to waste, and about a third of food produced around the world meets the same fate. Rich nations and developing nations have different problems with food access and distribution, but the issue is definitely not that there isn’t enough food to go around.)
For fun, I pledged that if I met my stretch goal of $1500 raised for Produce Rescue, I would complete the ride dressed as either Carmen Miranda or Susan B. Anthony. It’s pretty clear who won the vote:
Veronica Barron 