When you have too much food to go around is it weird to offer it to your neighbours?
I’ve been back to my home town Adelaide for nearly the past two weeks after a death in my family. As you can imagine, food waste was the last thing on my mind and, until we returned home a couple of days ago, I hadn’t given the fruit and veg rotting in my Sydney fridge one second’s thought.
What I did think about while I was away, however, was the sharing of food, especially between neighbours.
My mum lives in a retirement village in Adelaide’s southern suburbs in the kindest and loveliest community of people you could hope to meet. Her closest neighbour, Lila, is always bringing her cakes and slices and treats of some kind and this giving went into overdrive over the past two weeks when Lila heard the news about our family. I think mum struggled to keep up with the volume coming through her front door but I know she was touched and grateful because in times of bereavement or crisis it’s nice to have people take care of your everyday needs. This is especially true when it comes to food. It’s really the last thing on your mind.
It made me think about the concept on a bigger scale though. When you have too much food to go around is it weird to offer it to your neighbours? Obviously I’m not suggesting you offer your leftovers to the people next door if they’re complete strangers but most of us would know our neighbours well enough to exchange passing hellos and how are yous. I mean, what’s the protocol here? We have some great friends in our apartment building and I wouldn’t hesitate to offer them our leftovers – after all, we cook for each other often enough – but I can see that it could be considered strange. And is there a difference between offering fresh fruit and vegetables – especially if you’re growing your own – and cooked food. I think there probably is.
I think, instinctively, we all know how far to go with our neighbours but I like the idea of communities sharing the massive excess in our lives. And if your neighbours stop answering the door when you call, I guess you know you’ve gone too far.
