“So you begin…I began. I picked up one person — Maybe if I didn’t pick up that one person I wouldn’t have picked up 42,000. Just begin…one, one, one.”– Mother Teresa
In a world where hunger kills more people yearly than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined[1] and almost 870 million people are chronically undernourished[2], the idea of tackling this massive tragedy can feel daunting. However, on this 32nd annual World Food Day, instituted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), it’s somewhat heartening to understand that hunger has been declared “the single greatest solvable problem facing the world today” by the World Food Programme of the UN. And, if we remember Mother Teresa’s mantra of helping one person at a time, the journey to a healthier, happier world can start with any one of us.
At Ketchum, we can start by getting to know one another better through our deeply rooted and commonly held love of food and expertise in food communications. We are a global agency that can do great good by teaching one another about our cultural values surrounding food and nutrition in our respective countries. As we put faces to names and share our stories about the importance of food in our lives, we can ignite a larger conversation about how we might help one another build stronger communities where nobody goes hungry. We have the connections, the passion and the smarts to both appreciate our tremendous good fortune when it comes to the abundance in our lives and to consider ways we can help others.
Today, in honor of World Food Day and our dedication to furthering the robust conversation about all aspects of food, Ketchum is launching a new, globally focused version of the @ppetite food blog. This blog will be our virtual table where employees, clients, food authorities, friends – old and new – gather to discuss the joy, the humor and the serious issues surrounding the food that sustains us.
Please take a look at Ketchum’s Global Director of the Food & Nutrition Practice, Linda Eatherton’s, post today. In it she shares new break through proprietary research about a growing and powerful group of influencers every food communicator should know about.
This evening in Ketchum’s San Francisco Food Studio, we’ll be hosting 60 of the smartest, most creative minds in the food business in a World Food Day brainstorm session with the aim of coming up with new ideas for helping ease world hunger. Even if only a single workable idea results, that’s one more than we had this morning.
Time zones and oceans may separate all of us from participating in the event, but dozens of Ketchum employees worldwide are joining us virtually to share their thoughts about food on this important day.
If you’re interested in writing a post for @ppetite – and I want to include stories from employees in every office at every level as well as readers of our blog – please contact me at [email protected].
Remember, our journey as a caring food community will begin with one, one, one word.
