Page 7 - flipbook-foodbank-episitistikes-anagkes-eng

1 Introduction

The objective of the Food Bank is to redistribute food in order to cover food needs, while at
the same time limiting food waste, which is at very high levels in Greece.

The financial crisis -approximately 10 years ago- brought food insecurity to the forefront,
overturned the social balance and for many years increased the number of people seeking
help from soup kitchens and other civil society organisations.

In the last two years, international developments have been disturbing and unprecedented.
As a result, food insecurity in Greece and Europe is on the rise, and at the same time there is
talk about a potential broader food crisis and how it can be alleviated.

These future scenarios are certainly not auspicious. Increasing inflation is already affecting
food prices, which are expected to go even higher since the increasing cost of energy will be
passed on to the end customer. Thus, families will have to choose which expenses to cover.
They will be faced with the dilemma of whether they should pay their electricity bills, buy food,
heating oil, or whether they should pay their dues to the state.

Food quantities will be limited worldwide, however there will not be any shortages in Europe.
Foods that are currently on their way to poorer regions of the world will be absorbed by
European countries at higher prices. Food insecurity among the lower levels of society in
European countries is expected to increase, while there will be more hunger in other parts of
the world, possibly causing new migratory flows, protests, political instability, riots, etc.

The study of all these factors is complicated and it certainly far exceeds the capacity and
scope of a Food Bank. This issue presents the data we have gathered on food insecurity and
together we express our concerns for the future. Greek society has gained experience in
matters of solidarity, however there is also a sense of accumulated weariness.

Dimitris Nentas

Food Bank 5