Food brings people together in a huge variety of ways, from family gatherings or a friendly pick-me-up to first dates or peace-offerings. Everyone has a favourite food, ranging from pizza to pasta, cookies to cakes, and all the good stuff in between! So many amazing dishes and ingredients are available to indulge in today, and World Food Day (16th October) celebrates them all.

As a food and drink agency, you can imagine this is a day that we all celebrated in a number of ways, and you can bet we’ve got some recommendations to share!

Andy
‘For comfort food, there’s surely none finer than a fish finger sandwich. Soft white bread, tartare sauce, gem lettuce, fish fingers, Maldon salt, Carry-On Abroad on the telly. Heaven.’

Mary
‘One of my favourite dinners to make when it starts getting colder is bratwurst and sauerkraut. I like to grill the sausages and fry the cabbage in a pan to warm it up before serving. When I can be bothered, I like to make some mash to have with it too.’

Liv
‘It’s so hard to choose a go-to favourite, but a staple of my repertoire would have to be my Chicken Satay Pitta Breads with Mango and Red Cabbage Slaw, which I always completely drench in Peanut Satay Sauce. I prized the idea off Mob Kitchen but changed the satay sauce recipe to give it my own seal of approval. I have nothing but love for Mob Kitchen – but mine is definitely better!’

Court
‘My favourite go-to comfort food is Tomato and Mascarpone Gnocchi with pancetta, chicken, spinach, peas and a heck tonne of cheese. It’s super easy to whip up and is really naughty and indulgent.

Or for an obscure snack – smoked oysters on Ritz biscuits. Again, super easy to put together but really tasty. Top tip, if you sprinkle some leaves over the plate, you can trick people into thinking it’s a fancy canape.’

Clare
‘Tartiflette: What’s not to love about potatoes, bacon and wine layered together with buckets of melted cheese? It’s the ultimate French comfort food although it should come with the disclaimer that you won’t be able to move for hours afterwards.

Alvi
‘Chicken and halloumi souvlaki wrap – so tasty (although I think anything with halloumi is), after trying this in London for this first time a few months ago, it really is a go to Greek-food for me. Or if you want to opt for a quick snack, tzatziki dip and pita bread is a win!’

Ellie
‘McVities Blissfuls – Do I even need to say any more?? Honestly, they are SOOOOOOOOOOO DELICIOUS! I can’t even tell you’

There you have it, some top recommendations from home comforts to global goods.

However, World Food Day is not only about celebrating the amazing food that people have the privilege of indulging in, but also raising awareness for those who do not have such privilege. Unfortunately we are still at a point where starvation is a massive problem in a number of countries, with 10% of the world’s population regularly suffering from hunger*. Therefore, we need to do more together to raise awareness and combat this problem.

There are many charities that can help with the global hunger crisis. World Vision protects 21 million children from facing starvation, you can learn more about what they do and donate by following the link. Collective action across 150 countries worldwide is what makes World Food Day one of the most celebrated days of the United Nations calendar**.

World Food Day is also used to promote awareness and action about healthy diets and what bodies need. In recent times, education has grown about healthy diets and which foods are healthy or unhealthy, but we are not there yet! World Food Day offers a great opportunity to further educate and raise awareness in this area.

World Food Day was established in 1945 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a specialised agency of the United Nations. Since 2014, the popularity of the day has been used to promote the idea of feeding the world and eliminating poverty in rural nations.

www.worldvision.org/hunger-news-stories/world-hunger-facts
www.fao.org/world-food-day/about/en

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