Blog Action Day 2011: The Gift of Food

By Naomi Leanage

Food is necessary for human survival and growth, and it is something that we in North America forget to appreciate. It's truly sad when you think of all the excess amount of food we have available to us and how little to nothing people in other parts of the world have.

I was reminded of food's importance and the fact that there are thousands in the world who suffer without it during a family vacation this past summer.

While on a 5-day cruise, one of the main stops was Ensenada, Mexico. This wasn't going to be the first time we were exposed to the poverty in Mexico and child beggars, so we left the cruise ship prepared with a backpack full of food from one of the many open buffets. We stocked up on apples, pears, oranges, milk cartons, mini cereal boxes and even mints. Most of these were untouched by cruise guests, because of the extensive amount of preferred hot meals that were offered.

As expected, we were greeted by street merchants and souvenir stores, and soon the first child approached us. Around five years old, wearing no shoes and dirty clothes, with muddy hands and no ability to speak English, the young boy appeared in front of us holding a container of handmade bracelets saying "One dollar, one dollar." As soon as we stopped to reach inside our bags, a huge smile appeared on his face. When we pulled out a green apple instead of a green bill his smile, surprisingly to us, grew even bigger. He immediately took it and ran to his mother who was sitting on the floor beside us and began to eat it.

It's hard to describe the amount of joy and relief one simple apple gave to that young boy. An apple, that usually just sits as a forgotten ornament on our kitchen table until it becomes rotten, was probably one of his, if not the only, meals, for the day.

The bag of food we had brought disappeared in under fifteen minutes, and our simple effort brought happiness and hunger relief to so many children and their families.

That trip and experience really did make me appreciate food that we have and don't think twice about.

We're all guilty of complaining about how there is nothing to eat in the house, when in reality there is a fully stocked fridge and cupboards, just nothing you happen to be craving at the moment. Unfortunately, we can't all go to Mexico and give those kids food, but what we can do here in North America is simply appreciate what we have and try not to waste the food we eat. It's important to remember that not everyone is as fortunate as we are.

This brother and sister extend their hands asking tourists for money or food to spare.

(This blog post is a part of Blog Action Day and the 2011 theme of Food. Blog Action Day which started in 2007, brings writers across the world to write on current global issues on one single day.)