Chef Elijah Amoo Add, 31, is looking out of the Food For All Africa satellite warehouse in Ofinso, Ashanti, Ghana, on June 7, 2022.Reuters / Francis Kokoroco
Accra: Storm clouds surrounded a large zinc hut outside Ghana’s capital, Accra. There, a market porter was sitting in an upside-down metal bowl.
Later, when gourmet chef Elijah Add boarded the food truck and began serving beef stew hot plates on the plate, a rumbling noise broke the tranquility.
My eyes widened when a 31-year-old said he had free, bright faces behind the car.
Add said he has two main missions to reduce hunger and eliminate food waste. Food prices in May are rising 30% each year, and we’re aware that more and more people, including those who have jobs or homes, are looking to his food trucks.
“It started with a disabled man I met in 2011. He will collect unused food from the hotel where I worked for his colleague on the street,” Addo explained. ..
“When I asked him why he did, he said to me:” If I don’t, who will? “
Inspired by Add, he founded West Africa’s largest food bank, launched a school lunch program, and organized biweekly food truck distribution in poor areas of Accra.
FoodForAll Africa, Addo’s organization, has distributed about 3 million meals since 2015. Approximately 40% of foodstuffs are unsold inventory from supermarkets, wholesalers and farmers, otherwise they are landfilled.
In 2014, FoodForAll’s predecessor, ChefsForChange, discovered that more than 35% of Ghana’s food was wasted.
However, according to 2016 government data, more than 28% of people in Ghana, one of West Africa’s largest economies, cannot afford to spend more than $ 0.83 a day on food.
It marked a year before rampant inflation broke the 18-year record in May, accelerating price increases that the government is struggling to stop.
“What we do is important,” Addo said after the morning meal. “It’s part of building a stronger social system for Ghana.”
