Imagine eating a meal made entirely of food that was originally destined for the trash can. Now bring 4,999 of your closest friends with you. That is the idea behind Feeding the 5000, an event spearheaded by Tristram Stuart, an author, campaigner, and National Geographic Emerging Explorer who is focused on reducing food waste.
Food waste is a big problem. “At least a third of the world’s current food supply is being wasted,” Stuart told National Geographic. “We need to make everyone believe that food is far too valuable to waste.” The United Nations (UN) agrees. One of the UN's goals is to ensure that people worldwide have access to sufficient quantities of nutritious food by the year 2030. This is a lofty goal but an important one; the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimated that in 2023 up to 783 million people went hungry.
The problem is not, however, due to a lack of food. On the contrary, enough food is produced to feed everyone in the world, but the food often does not reach people in need. Moreover, there is a huge disparity between the Global North (wealthier industrialized countries typically located in the Northern Hemisphere) and the Global South (poorer countries typically located in the Southern Hemisphere). In addition, the global food supply chain is interconnected, so problems in one country can affect other countries. Conflict and war, for example, can disrupt supply chains and production. Ukraine, once known as the breadbasket of Europe, has had its farmland and livestock destroyed and its ports on the Black Sea shut down as a result of the ongoing war with Russia. This has contributed to food scarcity not only in Ukraine but also many countries in Africa that depend on imports from Ukraine.
Food waste is another contributing factor to global hunger. Recent studies show that all countries experience food waste on farms, in the supply chain, and after food has been purchased by consumers. In resource-rich countries, food waste happens in restaurants and at home, where food goes uneaten. In countries with fewer resources, on the other hand, food waste typically happens earlier on, often—as a result of not having access to technology to harvest, store, or transport crops. Making sure that food reaches people instead of becoming waste is a critical step toward solving the global hunger problem.
Tristram Stuart, who was born in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1977, has been working to educate people about food waste for over 20 years. He has sought to tackle the issue at both the individual consumer level and the national or international level. Stuart has helped organize Feeding the 5000 events in countries around the world. These events are spearheaded by Feedback, the charity Stuart founded in 2013. Feedback oversees a network of people who harvest fruits and vegetables that would otherwise go to waste. Feedback also campaigns for other causes, such as allowing pigs to be fed food waste rather than soy and grains, which are often grown on deforested land.
In addition to his work with Feeding the 5000 and Feedback, Stuart has written two books on food and food waste: Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal and The Bloodless Revolution: A Cultural History of Vegetarianism from 1600 to Modern Times.
In 2011, Stuart was awarded The Sophie Prize, an international environmental award. The prize committee recognized that “Stuart shows how simple changes can be introduced by consumers, politicians, and businesses to dramatically reduce waste.”
Changing how the world’s food is distributed and consumed is Stuart’s passion. There have been positive changes already—for example food redistribution has nearly doubled in the UK since 2015—but there is still plenty to do. “We will and we can change the way the whole food system is being run,” Stuart told National Geographic. “It’s our responsibility to do that.”
