Giving away discarded but edible food

The idea behind the “Food Sharing” movement actually began in Germany some six years ago. Since then, other people concerned with how much good food is unnecessarily thrown away have set up similar projects here in Switzerland, in Basel and Zurich in particular, and indeed in Zug and Cham, too.

Anyone enjoying a stroll through the Old Town last Friday may have noticed a table laden with items of food such as bananas, kiwi fruit and grapes in addition to tinned food and curry pasta, all of which had been discarded by the retailers whence it came but rescued by Jerry Arnold (on the right in the photograph), Hermine Schuler (on the left) and Jana Seinige, who set up the stall in Oswaldsgasse.

Indeed, it is from the Laden für Soziokultur next to St Oswald’s church that such food, all still very much edible, can again be collected. The project was actually launched two years ago but had to be stopped last year through lack of helpers, but now it is up and running again.

Arnold said how he would be very pleased to enlist more people to his team of five who help in this “food-sharing” exercise. “Problems arise when members of our team cannot help for some reason,” he said, adding how food is collected twice a week from two suppliers and once a week from another.

At present the project has two premises with refrigerators where the food can be obtained, one at the afore-mentioned shop at number 7 Kirchstrasse (open on Fridays between 5pm and 7pm) and another at number 3 Hünenbergstrasse in Cham (open between 2pm and 6pm on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and between 2pm and 8pm on Fridays).

Arnold hopes that word will soon get around about the giving away of this food, realising at the same time that there are people who might hesitate to collect any out of fear others might think they were strapped for cash. “It makes no difference to us whether the people who collect it are poor or well off; the main thing is that the food is eaten and not thrown away,” he insisted.

For private individuals who might like to offer food, there is a website (https://foodsharing.de) through which they can do this.