23rd December 2018

“People are so worried about what they eat between Christmas and New Year, but they really should be worried about what they eat between the New Year and Christmas.”

Food shopping during the festive period is always interesting whichever country or society you live in. The main motto for any festival is Eat, Drink and be Merry! I have memories from my childhood when my mum would make so many different sweets for Diwali and get loads of different vegetables to cook various dishes very specific to certain festivals. But all was consumed or shared with none of it going waste. It is a different story nowadays.

Then later during our stint in the Middle East, the shops used to be piled up with various sweets and other goodies during the month of Ramadan.. to gorge yourself after breaking the customary fast.

Now here is the west, it is a similar scenario, the supermarkets are overflowing with all kinds of food – piles of carrots, parsnips, brussel sprouts, potatoes. The chilled sections have turkey in all sizes, gammon joints, beef and other meats. Cheese boards and starters galore. Big boards pointing shoppers to great deals on “multibuys”. The alcohol aisle was another story altogether. Every customer had a trolley piled high with every item advertised as promotion! One got the feeling that there were preparing for the ultimate orgy of food and drink.

All that preparation for one day … not to be repeated for another 12 months when it is all the same again. How much of it is consumed and what is discarded… it is not hard to imagine.

Got me thinking… is it all worth it? For me looking in as an outsider, I find it contrived and superfluous. Families getting together for one day to wine & dine and then ignore each other for the remaining 364 days! What a world we live in!

The world today of the haves and have nots is the reason why there is so much strife and unhappiness. The haves want to enjoy what they have rightfully earned. Whereas the other half begrudge them for it. Is it fair I ask?

Having lived in different places myself, I wonder if there will come a time when there is no hunger and no wastage of food. But realistically I don’t envisage it happening in my lifetime. We will continue on this journey of excessive gluttony in the name of festive celebrations when there is so much of deprivation in our society.