Gourmet Chef, Elijah Addo pulled up in a food truck and started dishing up hot plates of beef stew.
Eyes widened when the 31-year-old said they were free and bright faces lined up behind the vehicle.
Addo said he has two core missions, to reduce hunger and eliminate food waste. With food prices up an annual 30% in May, he is finding more and more people are turning to his food truck, including those with jobs and homes.
Inspired, Addo founded West Africa’s largest food bank, started a school feeding programme and organised bi-weekly food truck distributions in Accra’s poorer neighbourhoods.
Addo’s organisation, Food For All Africa, has distributed around 3 million meals since 2015. About 40% of ingredients are unsold stock from supermarkets, wholesalers and farmers that would otherwise end up in landfills.
Food For All’s predecessor organization, Chefs For Change, found in 2014 that more than 35% of Ghana’s food is wasted.
But more than 28% of people in Ghana, one of West Africa’s largest economies, cannot afford to spend more than $0.83 per day on food, according to 2016 government data.
That was before rampant inflation broke an 18-year record in May, marking a full year of quickening price growth the government is struggling to stem.
Source : reuters.com
