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Veggie leftovers will spice up Mitzvah Day’s greener menu
Supporters urged not to throw out food. 'Share it with people who need it'
October 4, 2019 10:24
By, barry toberman
2 min read
Supporters urged not to throw out food. 'Share it with people who need it'
October 4, 2019 10:24ByBarry Toberman, barry toberman
In keeping with the environmentally friendly theme of this year’s Mitzvah Day, supporters are being urged to have a “fridge sweep” for food that can be used in cookery sessions.
Although collections outside supermarkets for food banks will remain a staple of the day of good deeds — which will take place on or around November 17 — those involved in catering projects for the homeless and others will use leftover vegetarian or vegan items brought along by participants.
“It is all about reducing food waste,” explained Mitzvah Day founder and chair Laura Marks. “So don’t throw it out. Use it and share it with people who need it.”
In general, the focus will be “on recycling rather than collecting, preventing goods from going to landfill.
“The whole issue of the environment runs across faith groups and we will amplify it massively.”
Organisers are trying to enlist a well-known chef to cook up something wondrous from a random collection of leftovers at one of the day’s key sessions.
In the spirit of the green theme, Mitzvah Day is also asking people to donate coats and other winter clothes they no longer want for distribution to the needy, rather than give new items.
And participants will be encouraged to walk to their projects — and where the distance is too great, to car pool.
Another major element of this year’s programme — which is expected to involve 25,000 volunteers of all faiths in the UK — will be interfaith planting events. “It is an opportunity for people to come together to plant trees that have ritual significance for different faiths,” for example, apple trees for the Jewish community.
On a smaller scale, groups could cultivate horseradish or mint. “You are not only planting but producing food,” Ms Marks stressed.
“Plant mint and months later, you are drinking mint tea in a synagogue or mosque.”
Mitzvah Day executive director Georgina Bye said the environmental drive extended to less plastic use by those running events such as teas for the elderly in synagogues. “It’s a theme they can take with them throughout the year.”
Head office staff are doing their bit by producing sustainable promotional merchandise, from recyclable bunting to biodegradable balloons.
One thing that will remain constant is the importance of Mitzvah Day to smaller communities, which are often divorced from mainstream Jewish life. Involvement in the day “helps them feel connected to the Jewish community and wider society”, Ms Marks noted.
She hopes MPs frazzled by Brexit arguments will tempted by a soothing alternative later this month when Mitzvah Day holds its parliamentary launch, where they will pack essential toiletries for those in a nearby homeless shelter.
And, as a sneak preview of what the politicians will engage in, Ms Marks speedily and expertly constructs a sturdy pouch for medical items from pages of a JC back issue. “I used to be a teacher,” she says by way of explanation.
