Yesterday, my LC and I attended the Oxfam Hunger Banquet. Attending this Banquet I did not know what to expect really. When we first entered, we were handed a card and were seated randomly. The people that were told to sit on the floor were the low-income families, and the middle class and the upper class were seated at tables. This banquet was held to raise awareness of world hunger and bring it to perspective.
I liked how this banquet was almost a week after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a day to be thankful for everything we have because on an everyday basis we are too busy to even stop and think for a moment. Yesterday, attending this banquet really brought world hunger to perspective for me. During the discussion, the speakers told us how every 11 seconds a child dies in the world because of malnourishment is heartbreaking. I am grateful to be born in a middle-class family where I am not deprived of food, but there are children out there that are fortunate enough. We do not choose what class we are born into, unfortunately.
Towards the end of this banquet the low incomce families were asked to stand and get food, their food was rice and beans. This is what a low-income family was able to afford to eat. The middle class family was then asked to stand, and they were served plain pasta with a piece of bread. The upper-class family was then served chicken. This is what these family’s ate on a daily basis. It is extremely sad, and it is amazing how this Oxfam banquet tries to raise awareness.
During this banquet, I realized that there was no control over who received what card. It’s the same in real life. You can’t help what you are born into. Those in the lower class had no choice in anything due to circumstances out of their control. This banquet made me realize the amount of difficulty there is simply to acquire food and even then, sometimes it isn’t enough. It made me realize my comfort and the fact that I never had to deal with poverty. Not everyone has that comfort and it has made me appreciate this banquet by bringing to light an issue many of us don’t consider an issue, simply because we aren’t dealing with it ourselves.
ghout the semester, I’ve been traveling to the different boroughs of New York City and trying many different foods on the streets of Manhattan and Brooklyn. My first trip I went to a street fair near Grand Central Station and tried various ethnic foods such as German sausage, Greek Grape leaf wraps, a chicken kebab, and French crepe. It was very interesting to try many different foods from all over the world in such a small setting,
When I was in California I ate a lot of Acai bowls. When coming to the New York I didn’t expect to find any because I figured it was more a West Coast thing. However, through a friend I ended up finding one. On my trip into the city I went to Juice Generation, a healthy to-go juice bar and smoothie bowl joint and had a peanut butter Acai Bowl. Acai is a superfood and smoothie bowls are extremely healthy and a very fulfilling meal.
money. As I look to my right, the middle class were seated at a table and given pasta and water. To the far end of the room, the upper class were given a nutritious meal consisting of chicken and salad. My meal portrayed the difficult access to food and water in poor areas of the country.