Picking up after a harvest the good and usable fruit of human activity that is inadvertently left behind, is now a movement

If you’re bored, go out and grab a pizza. Or better still, have it delivered to your sofa or desk. How many half-eaten pizzas are dumped? If you want variety, surf a few cafes: pastry in one, bonda and coffee at another. A dosa before a film in a multiplex, popcorn and cola during it, and a hot-chocolate afterwards. Food for fun, not health or hunger!

Just when I was wondering about the explosion of food-tourism that we are constantly being subjected to, I happened to read something that is a counter to the modern trend to treat food as another form of entertainment; so I share the gist of it, particularly as we live in a country where, while some of us can feast continuously, thousands die of malnutrition every day.

The article on gleaning titled ‘To the Last Grain’ was about picking up, after a harvest, the good and usable fruit of human activity. Not what is discarded, but those items that were overlooked. After the giant combine-harvesters move on, there is still plenty left for the birds and perhaps a sackful for the farmer also. Gleaning is now a campaign in the U.S. and in Europe.

What is gleaning? Some 30% of fruit and vegetables are rejected simply because they do not look nice. These ‘uglies’ go into the baskets of gleaners. After a terrible summer, fruit might be smaller than what the supermarkets ask for; so instead of leaving them to rot on trees and on the ground, they are ‘gleaned’ and used by a less formal market.

Unlike scavenging, which has commercial implications, gleaning is rooted in charity and group effort. It is an ancient practice, dating back centuries to when farmers were told to leave a portion of their harvest behind for the less fortunate. In the Old Testament, God instructs Moses to tell his people that they are not to wholly reap the corners of their fields. Nor are they to take every single grape or olive from their trees. “[T]hou shalt leave them for the poor and the stranger” (Leviticus, 19:10).

In Punjab there is a farming rule which says a certain portion of the field is to be left unharvested by the owner. It is for those who work his land for him. Gleaning was a significant part of the income of peasants and villagers in England in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was highly regulated and timed with bells being rung for the entry and exit of gleaners.

According to reports, 30 to 40% of American food is wasted. It is estimated that more than 60.3 billion kilograms of that could have been eaten by someone. In Britain that statistic is 10 million tons. Thrown out by households! Considering the millions of “food insecure” people in the world many organisations send volunteers — or gleaners — into the fields and farms of neighbours to pick up the left-behind produce for people in need and local charities. In turn, farmers benefit with a small tax deduction for everything they donate.

Today, with increased attention on food waste and the need for fresh produce in local food banks, the act of gathering left-behind produce that is not sellable from farms and farmers’ markets has steadily grown.

The scale of gleaning has changed but the philosophy remains the same. It brings the harvest full circle wherein nature and man combine for the benefit of the greatest number especially the poor.

minioup@gmail.com