Little Table, Set Yourself!

Most people who write blogs write what is essentially an online diary or journal. Because some stimulating environmental events and some synchronicities have popped up in my life lately, I’m going to do the same today.

A stint on the nominating committee of the American Women’s

Club of Zurich, chaired by the woman who is also responsible for the philanthropic activities of the Club, led to my suggestion to her that the organization Tischlein Deck Dich would make a good choice for the Club’s charity this year. TDD, as we began to call it, is a huge Swiss-wide organization that distributes leftover food from grocery stores, food importers, bakeries etc. to those struggling to make ends meet. The name comes from the Grimm fairy tale of the same name. It seems that a tailor sent his three sons out into the world to become apprentices. At the end of their apprenticeships, each son received a present; the eldest got a small, plain table. This table had a magic property, however. When one said to it “Tischlein Deck Dich!” (little table, set yourself!), it was covered in the finest linens and china and the most delicious food.

TDD has indeed become the Club’s charity for the year. An organization that is both food-and-environmentally involved is right up my alley, of course, as is the fact that the Club will sponsor fund-raising events this year with items raffled or auctioned off. Enter another interest of mine – knitting! I’m on the way to finishing a second item for the raffle.

In the meantime, I read an article about worldwide food waste that said that 40% of the world’s food is wasted – never reaches our stomachs. 40%! Can’t be, surely a decimal point has been omitted. But no, almost half of the world’s food is wasted in one form or another. Appalled by this figure for several reasons, I did further research and one day mentioned it to the chairlady of the Global Concerns Group in the Zurich International Women’s Association. “Karen! Someone else in the group is interested in this topic and wants to give a talk on it.” And so it came about that this woman and I will give a talk on food waste in October. We are each interested in entirely different aspects of the problem, so our talk divides itself nicely between us.

Further discussions with the chairman of the Global Concerns

group led to the idea of showing the film Taste the Waste before or after our talk. Fast forward to finishing up nominating committee work and my telling the committee chairman about this film showing. Bingo -  we are now going to have a joint program with the American Women’s Club and show the film twice.

Heady with the fascinating info coming from our knee-deep involvement in research for our talk, we were delighted to get a flyer about an exhibition in Zurich in the near future called “We Eat the World”. The special events that are part of this exhibition include a cooking evening using leftovers, and I can hardly wait. Food and environment and imagination!

I’ve always found synchronicities amazing, and here I am in the midst of several. Of course food waste is the topic of choice in any number of organizations, but to have this theme playing a big part in my life right now is just marvelous. My own little table is practically setting itself!