A Planet Full of Hungry Bastards and Not Enough Steak

Right then, let’s talk about food. Not just your average cheeseburger or a soggy portion of chips, but the real global situation with food. Spoiler alert: it's not good. In fact, according to Julieta Ojeda Gómez, the head of UNAM's Sustainable Food University Program, it’s absolutely critical. The challenge we face is not just enormous, it’s gigantic, mammoth-sized. We’re talking about an unsustainable production model that’s set to collapse under its own weight.

Now, Ojeda Gómez didn’t just pluck this from thin air. She cites the World Wildlife Fund, those people who care more about pandas than I care about my next Sunday roast. By 2050, if we keep munching through the world's resources like we are now, we’ll need not one, not two, but almost three Earths to satisfy humanity’s cravings for food and energy. That’s right—three. And let me just remind you, in case you’ve forgotten: we’ve only got one. Just the one lonely planet, spinning away in the void, that we’re happily ripping apart to satisfy our appetite for burgers, chicken nuggets, and avocado toast.

The thing is, there are more mouths to feed now than ever before. By mid-2024, we’ve hit a whopping 8.2 billion people. Eight-point-two billion! It’s like they’ve all shown up at your house for dinner unannounced. And guess what? The number’s only going up. By 2050, we’re expected to hit 9.7 billion, and by 2080, we’ll top out at around 10.4 billion. That’s like hosting the world's worst dinner party, where everyone shows up, but you’ve only got enough food for a handful of them. And oh, did I mention that the planet’s resources are finite? They don’t just magically replenish themselves while we’re busy demolishing our latest takeaway.

And this is where Ojeda Gómez steps in with the inevitable wake-up call: we need to become more conscious about how we use what little resources we have left. But it’s not just about being nice and sharing—it’s about survival. If we keep going like this, we’ll be lucky if there’s any food left for future generations, let alone anything remotely nutritious.

Let’s not pretend that the situation isn’t already dire. World Food Day is on October 16, and the numbers coming out are nothing short of alarming. In 2022, roughly 735 million people—that’s 9.2 percent of the global population—were in a state of chronic hunger. Imagine that. Nearly one in ten people in the world doesn’t have enough to eat. On top of that, a staggering 2.4 billion people faced moderate to severe food insecurity. That means they’re unsure where their next meal is coming from, if it’s coming at all. This number has gone up by nearly 400 million since 2019. We’re talking about a ticking time bomb here, and it’s about to blow.

Now, hunger doesn’t just mean a growling stomach. It means people becoming more vulnerable to diseases, unable to work, and economically unproductive. That’s two billion people without regular access to safe, nutritious food. Two billion! In 2022 alone, 148 million children had stunted growth because of malnutrition, and 45 million under-fives were emaciated. You can practically hear the alarm bells ringing.

So what’s causing this, apart from our general incompetence as a species? According to Ojeda Gómez, there’s the usual culprit: climate change. Thanks to all those fossil fuels and deforestation, we’re now seeing more extreme weather—droughts, floods, the whole shebang. And guess what? That wreaks havoc on crops. When you flood a field or parch it to dust, it’s not going to give you a bumper harvest of wheat, is it? That means food prices go up, and suddenly, your loaf of bread costs more than a second-hand car. And that’s if you can find it on the shelf in the first place.

But climate change isn’t the only thing messing with our food supply. There’s also a little thing called geopolitics. Wars, like Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have a nasty habit of making food even more scarce. Take wheat, for instance. Ukraine’s a big exporter, but with missiles flying about, it’s a bit tricky to get that grain out to the rest of the world. Then there’s the Middle East, where conflicts like the one in Gaza not only make life hell for the people living there but also lead to global shortages. Add in violence, extortion, and insecurity in various parts of the world, and you’ve got a recipe for skyrocketing food costs and shuttered shops.

It’s all pretty bleak, isn’t it? But wait—there’s more. If all of this wasn’t bad enough, we’re also incredibly wasteful with the food we do have. According to a UN report, in 2022 alone, households around the world wasted the equivalent of over a billion meals every single day. Yes, you read that right: a billion meals a day, binned, trashed, tossed aside like they were nothing. And 60 percent of that waste happens in our homes. So while one part of the world is starving, the other is chucking perfectly good food into the garbage. It’s enough to make you want to scream.

Mexico’s no exception either. On average, every person in the country wastes about 94 kilos of food a year, while a quarter of the population struggles with food poverty. The irony is so thick you could cut it with a butter knife.

And let’s not kid ourselves into thinking that just because we’re not hungry, we’re eating well. Ojeda Gómez points out that plenty of people who have access to food still make poor dietary choices. Blame it on ignorance, laziness, or the hectic pace of modern life, but the result is the same. A cheap pizza might fill you up, but it’s not exactly a nutritional powerhouse, is it?

So, what’s the solution? Well, it’s not rocket science. Ojeda Gómez suggests cutting down on meat and upping our intake of vegetables, fruits, cereals, and legumes—basically, the good stuff. She also encourages us to buy seasonal and local produce, because it’s not just healthier for us, it’s better for the planet. But who has time for that when a greasy burger is so much easier, right?

At the end of the day, we all have a role to play. Yes, there’s a global crisis, but it’s also about personal responsibility. On this World Food Day, maybe it’s time to stop, think, and reconsider that next meal. Because if we don’t, there may not be many left to think about.