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World Food and Your Classroom

It’s seldom that I take the opportunity to write about my travels and experiences, but two events have made me aware that we need to take our students onto the stage of World Food and some of its arenas.

In October I was fortunate enough to be invited by the SoyFoods Council to participate in the ceremonies surrounding the World Food Prize.  I had never heard of this event and now I am embarrassed that I had never spent much time thinking about the concept of hunger in the world.

This event celebrates the achievements of scientists and governments around the world who are seeking to alleviate hunger.  It could be a matter of the right kind of seed.  It could be access to water.  It could be that it is dependent on the labor of women (as the men are off to war). 

Please have your students do some research on this prize as well as the issues that are celebrated and discussed during this annual event in Des Moines, where this year 76 nations were represented and 2 men were honored as Laureates:  one from Ghana and one from Brazil.

The World Food Prize is the foremost international award recognizing individuals who have increased the quality, quantity, or availability of food in the world.  Please go to www.worldfoodprize.org.  These are conversations we should be having in our classrooms.

The other event  that is worthy of note is the World Chefs Tour for Hunger that Michael Ty, president of the ACF, describes in this month’s issue of The Gold Medal Classroom.  This 3rd World Chefs Tour against Hunger in August, 2011, had more than 240 chefs from 44 different countries participating with the common bond of bringing awareness to children’s welfare in South Africa.  You can read Chef Ty’s story on CAFÉ’s website at http://cafemeetingplace.com/gmc/guest-speakers/item/586-guest-speaker-a-parade-of-nations-for-good.html

Many of you participate in community outreach, bringing food and nutritional information to our own U.S. children.  Your students are learning by your example and leadership in this area.  Thank you for making these discussions and actions part of the career they are involved with.  How appropriate to be bringing these efforts to their attention in the month we celebrate Thanksgiving.