One World Everybody Eats

I heard recently about a restaurant in Salt Lake City where they serve fresh, organic food--to all comers. There are no prices, and no set menu--the chefs serve up what they feel like serving, based on what is available, and you pay what you think the meal is worth. And if you can't afford to pay with money, you can pay with volunteer hours. If you can't afford to pay at all, you can eat a complimentary meal of dal (an Indian lentil dish) and rice.

Volunteering in the restaurant, you can get training and experience you can take with you in seeking employment.

Not content to do good just in her part of the world, Denise Cerreta, owner of the Salt Lake City restaurant, is helping the model spread elsewhere with her One World Everybody Eats Foundation.

Whenever I think about the bad stuff in the world, I have to think about people who are doing amazing stuff like this. This is a radical idea in our world, where access to food--much less nutritious, good food--is not considered a right, but a privilege.

The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which the US is a party (yes, it's true, we really signed on to this, and it supposedly has the force of international law), says this:

Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

And yet...hunger persists, even in the United States. And even where people are fed, often the food is low-quality, and many of the health problems experienced disproportionately by the poor in this country, like obesity, and Type II diabetes, can be explained by a nutrient-poor diet--not enough fresh food, too much processed white flour. Pasta. Ramen. Food bank food tends to be of low-quality--and many food banks now are struggling to keep food on their shelves because of the economic downturn and the rising cost of food.

I have never worked in the food industry. I don't like to cook much and try to avoid it whenever possible. I struggle to feed my child food that he will eat that is healthy, and don't always succeed (sometimes it's just easier to feed him something--anything--that he will eat). But I feel a kind of envy for people who have enough guts to do stuff like this that has the potential to have a huge impact on a community--and beyond.

Links:
One World Everybody Eats website
NPR - Hunger in America
Universal Declaration of Human Rights