Monday column: Can we stop food wasting in the Month of Blessing?
As I drive with my business in this month of Ramadan, I see a lot of cats around the street bins more than usual.
These cats literally stand on the heaps of food on top of the waste bins. There are also more food around the bins as the animals celebrate the vast leftovers of the Ramadan's Iftaar meals. It looks like for some, Ramadan is a festival period and not the month of restraint.
We forget that this month is the month of reflection to look at our bad habits and put them right. It is also an opportunity to make important changes on our wasteful behaviours. The world is going through environmental changes and one of them is food scarcity.
Poverty is on top of all calamities we currently see in many parts of the world. And that brings the subject of food shortage. We don't need to say that there are many millions of people around the world who go through any day of the month without eating a proper meal.
Instead of reflecting of these problems, some of the households in Oman cook more food than their families can consume in a Ramadan evening. We all know that the importance of preserving our resources at any time of the year is on top of the list. We do not need to be reminded.
But then why half of the population of Oman waste so much food during the month of Ramadan? Is it prestige or keeping up with the social status of wealthy families? We only need to look at the news to be reminded of poor families who go through the whole day without food. And the wealthy people in this country pay no attention to them.
Let us look at the problem this way. The money we pay for the food that are thrown in the bins can get into the pockets of the poor and solve many of their financial problems. This brings up another question. How do we enjoy our Iftaar meals knowing that half of it will be wasted?
We pay no attention that Ramadan is a month of restraint, self-control and common sense in all aspect of our routine. I think it is time we launch a national campaign every Ramadan to create awareness to all in the preservation of food. This campaign should not be restricted in the mosques or televisions but on posters in every street and corner of the country. Even better, perhaps our school curriculums should be included about food shortages and self-restrain to prepare our children to be more responsible about the wasting of resources when they grow up.
We should also know that it is about sustainability of the food productions. We are also aware that Islamic teaching of eating wisely is well supported by nutritionists and all medical experts. Eating moderately is about our health, too. So the Islamic tradition is again very compatible to medical science.
There is another aspect of it. Obesity is on the rise in Oman. It costs the Ministry of Health millions of rials a year to treat overweight people. Obviously, we see many people gain weight in Ramadan instead of trimming down like it is supposed to be.
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