Ramadan, a Month of Fasting or Food Waste?
A table laid out with food at El Sayyeda Zeinab district in Ramadan. (Source: Youm7)
Today marks the first week of Ramadan in Egypt. Ramadan is not only thirty days of abstaining from all food and liquids until sunset, but it is also a time for great religious devotion and self-reflection. However, although Muslims are encouraged to reduce or eliminate unfavorable habits that will ultimately better the quality of their lives, ironically statistics show that although Ramadan is supposed to train and reinforce Muslims’ self-discipline, Egyptian consumership behaviour is proving otherwise.
Egyptian Ramadan nights are considered one of our culture's’ greatest facets. Particularly, family and friends gathering that eventually do pull through. We prepare feasts filled with finger-licking good vine leaves, and tender, juicy duck with several side dishes of pasta, french fries and fresh salads of all colors. The doorbell rings, and small kids rush to open the door for their late cousins whose parents carry a delicious konafa ice-cream cake with mango and cherries on top. Everyone helps carry all those plates from the kitchen to the dinner table. The TV is on for the family’s favorite show so they can quickly eat and indulge in the comedy/drama show. Our ramadan nights are simply better experienced than described, but we need to talk about something else, the morning after a ramadan night: the half-eaten duck, the konafa leftovers, and the now-bitter salad.
[a]An acclaimed study drafted by the the National Centre for Social and Criminal Research (NCSCR) warns that 83% of Egyptian families alter their food consumption habits during Ramadan in a way that augments their food bill for this month by 50% to 100% which averages the rate of national spending on food in Ramadan to be LE 1 billion every single day during Ramadan. The NCSCR study observes that during this month, Egyptians spend 66.5% more on meat and poultry, 63% more on sweets, and they host 23% more banquets and dinner parties. Not only do household spend more, they also waste more. At least 60% of perfectly edible food goes straight into the dumpster to waste and rot.
The abnormalities of the nations food consumership behaviour in the holy month of Ramadan further accentuates the split in the Egyptian social structure. Despite the country’s wasteful behavior, Egypt has long suffered from Food Security and malnutrition. According to the Egyptian Food Bank, 16 million people in Egypt live below the poverty line. In addition, 17% of the population suffers from food insecurity according to a report by UN World Food Programme and the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
In an attempt to mitigate the food security issue, the Egyptian government supports a food subsidy card program that serves and benefits 78% of the population at an estimated cost of 85 billion Egyptian pounds ($4.79 billion) in 2017 alone as reported by Reuters.
Unfortunately, Middle East is one of the world’s top food wasters, and during Ramadan the situation takes a turn for the worst. According to a research conducted at Sultan Qaboos University, nearly 54 million worth of food is wasted in Oman every year. As reported by Yabiladi, Morocco ranks 29th in the 2017 Food Sustainability Index (FSI), a survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition Foundation (BCFN).
Thankfully, several Middle Eastern countries are beginning to take action, having realized the ramifications of food waste during Ramadan, and its trajectory. According to Al Arabiya, Saudi Arabia launched a national program to crack down on food waste after shocking figures estimated the cost of wastage at $13.3 billion a year, amounting to a third of the country’s food production. [b]
Small initiatives in Egypt are taking steps to fight the status quo. One initiative that prefers to remain nameless aims at making our Egyptian Ramadan nights as food waste-free as possible (and just as fun and relaxing). After spending a lovely Ramadan night with family and friends, instead of throwing away the food that remains, one can simply phone their number up, and the closest volunteer will show up at to your door to collect the food, no matter what the amount is, and help it reach the homes that need it before sunset in Batn El Ba’ara and Old Cairo regions. “We started 4 years ago with only 10 volunteers, and now we are more than 400 volunteers from different areas in Cairo. Recently, we expanded our charitable activities to include Ramadan boxes packing and helping female debtor so we wouldn’t stop the charitable acts after Ramadan,” says Mohamed Maged, one of the volunteers. The reason why they remain nameless, according to Maged, “We have no interest in media or fame or profit. We just want to help others.” [c]
If you wish to sustain the food recovery operations all year long, you can download Wasteless Egypt new mobile phone application, with just a simple click of a button, Wasteless Egypt, in cooperation with the Egyptian Food Bank, can ensure your food donations reach underprivileged areas. Assem AbdelWahab, Wasteless Egypt’s cofounder, told Egyptian Streets what he hopes the impact of his social business could have: “We at Wasteless hope to encourage Egyptians to adopt a more responsible consumption behaviour that contributes to social wellbeing and environment preservation. We are currently operating on food recovery but very soon we will have more partners to cover other aspects such as plastic, paper and electronic waste.”
Ramadan, a Month of Fasting or Food Waste?
A table laid out with food at El Sayyeda Zeinab district in Ramadan. (Source: Youm7)
Today marks the first week of Ramadan in Egypt. (I think adding a little more background here is a great way to add a bridge or transition-->) Ramadan is not only thirty days of abstaining from all food and liquids until sunset, but it is also a time for great religious devotion and self-reflection. However, although Muslims are encouraged to reduce or eliminate unfavorable habits that will ultimately better the quality of their lives, ironically statistics show that although Ramadan is supposed to teach (exchange teach with a different word. I think there are other words more suitable for the sentence ) Muslim self-discipline, Egyptian consumership behaviour is proving otherwise.
A well-known(acclaimed, renowned better terms) study drafted by the the National Centre for Social and Criminal Research (NCSCR) warns that 83% of Egyptian families alter their food consumption habits during Ramadan in a way that augments their food bill for this month by 50% to 100% which averages the rate of national spending on food in Ramadan to be LE 1 billion every single day during Ramadan. The NCSCR study observes that during this month, Egyptians spend 66.5% more on meat and poultry, 63% more on sweets, and they host 23% more banquets and dinner parties. Not only do household spend more, they also waste more. At least 60% of perfectly edible food goes straight into the dumpster to waste and rot. (Great job!)
The idiocracies(abnormalities) is of the nations food consumership behaviour in the holy month of Ramadan further accentuates the dichotomy (separation, split. I like rich vocabulary but I don’t want to confuse the readers by using a word many of them won’t understand!) in the Egyptian social structure. Despite the country’s wasteful behavior, Egypt has long suffered from Food Security and malnutrition. According to the Egyptian Food Bank, 16 million people in Egypt live below the poverty line. In addition, 17% of the population suffers from food insecurity according to a report by UN World Food Programme and the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS).
In an attempt to mitigate the food security issue, the Egyptian government supports a food subsidy card program that serves and benefits 78% of the population at an estimated cost of 85 billion Egyptian pounds ($4.79 billion) in 2017 alone as reported by Reuters.** (<-- please hyperlink the article here so the audience can read it!)
Unfortunately, Middle East is one of the world’s top food wasters, and during Ramadan the situation takes a turn for the worst. According to a research conducted at Sultan Qaboos University, nearly 54 million worth of food is wasted in Oman every year. As reported by Yabiladi, Morocco ranks 29th in the 2017 Food Sustainability Index (FSI), a survey conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and the Barilla Center for Food & Nutrition Foundation (BCFN).
Thankfully, several Middle Eastern countries are beginning to take action, having realized the ramifications of food waste during Ramadan, and its trajectory. According to Al Arabiya, Saudi Arabia launched a national program to crack down on food waste after shocking figures estimated the cost of wastage at $13.3 billion a year, amounting to a third of the country’s food production.
[a]We need to pick one of the two intros.
[b]Erase? :')
[c]Waiting for the organization to send me their blessing to run this.