On Thursday during lunch, the College hosted its first Hunger Banquet – a fun and interactive way for students to learn about food security and the issue of global hunger.
In 2016, 1 in 9 people still go hungry every day, and it’s not because the world doesn’t produce enough for everyone to eat. The Hunger Banquet works by giving people a first-hand experience of the inequalities inherent in our food system.
The lunch guests were staff from the College, and were divided into groups representing high, middle and low-income regions of the globe. A handful were lavished with an abundance of delectable dishes at a well-decorated table setting, others were fed a simpler fare, while the remainder were seated on the hessian floor, given only rice and made to fetch their own water.
It was a tangible lunch experience for guests and onlooking students. Mr James Depiazzi commented that it was “not very comfortable sitting on the floor, but also made me aware of how we must look, with our ‘extravagant’ lifestyles, in a world where social media opens up global boundaries and lets everyone else see how we live.” He also said it was “chastening” to hear that the minimum wage in Australia positions us well into the top 15% of the world’s people by income.
As a guest in the middle group, Ms Walker said “the experience made me both very grateful for all we enjoy and conscious of all we waste.”
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