Food for thought

A ‘social supermarket’ in Britain shows how best to put surplus groceries to good use

Tonnes of perfectly good food goes into waste bins every day in the UAE. Silvia Razgova / The National

Most of us here, just as in other parts of the world, want plentiful amounts of unblemished produce in supermarkets every day. But what this means is tonnes of perfectly good – if a little less fresh – food is thrown away day after day. Food comprises a third of the waste generated in Abu Dhabi and the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries rank high in the world when it comes to wasting food. This is lamentable, but how to tackle it? The UK’s new “social supermarket” might offer some answers.

The Community Shop, which opened its doors earlier this week, is described as the first of its kind. It offers the hungry and unemployed the chance to buy food for discounts of up to 70 per cent. Supported by some of the UK’s largest retailers, it operates on a membership basis. More of these are planned across the UK and depending on how well they do, might it be worth exploring something similar in our part of the world?