It’s no secret that a significant number of people, even in “first world” countries, are struggling to feed themselves or having to make choices between buying food or heating their homes, or even feeding their children instead of themselves. I can’t help feeling really quite disturbed therefore by articles in the news such as this:
or, a few months previously:
I appreciate that these events are considered “traditional”, though I think a tradition that barely spans one person’s lifetime is arguably nothing of the sort, and that they may bring a certain amount of pleasure to the participants which might contribute to their mental well-being, but the waste of food surely can’t be a positive thing? Even if it is food that could no longer be sold for some reason, shouldn’t ways have been found to make it available to people who would benefit from it before that happened?
What feels even worse is that there are even tours specifically to go to watch these events, meaning that there are people in the world who are willing to pay to watch food be “wasted” rather than having it feed those in need of it. That seems a pretty crazy world to me.
