Chicken A La Carte means Chicken according to the menu. This short film, created by Ferdinand Dimatura, came first in a competition themed- FOOD, TASTE and HUNGER for the 56th Berlin International Film Festival.

The film starts off as rather dull, but it all begins to make sense when you see the man sorting out the pieces of food. And the smiles on the children’s faces makes us understand the seriousness of the matter. They pray and thank their God for giving them that food-that same refuse picked out of a garbage can.

This actually had an impact on me. As an avid food lover this came as a bit of a shock. We can imagine people living on the refuse of others but when we see it for real, it is very shocking and disturbing. This reminds me of the time when my parents used to tell me not to waste food- and now I can understand why. This isnt a reality show. There are people out there, over 25000 of them who die each day due to hunger and malnutrition. This also makes us understand how lucky we are, to be able to have three(or four) square meals a day.

On an average, a person dies each second due to hunger

And the sad part is that the entire world produces enough food to feed everyone and can produce enough food to feed even double, but still, death by starvation occurs. Why is it so? My guess is that, while production of food occurs, its distribution does not go as smoothly. A lot ends up as waste when it could have been used to help someone in need. Food is not something which can be taken as granted. It is a gift from God. It sustains life.

If you are motivated, you can start off helping by doing just three simple things,

DO not waste food – I guess there is no need for me to elaborate on this.

DO not overeat – This may be the reason why Gluttony is considered as one of the seven deadly sins. Besides, the loss of a few pounds may actually do you some good.

DO not eat for formality – Eating just because its ‘lunch time’ or ‘dinner time’ . Eat when you are hungry and drink when you are thirsty. The food that you save might help out someone else.

When you have a meal, remember this short film(if you can stomach it), or at least what this implies.

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