Working relentlessly

Solving the challenges of food wastage, hunger and malnutrition in an efficient manner is a remarkable form of seva.

Feeding India, an award-winning non-profit organisation aims to eradicate the challenge of hunger and continue to work earnestly towards this noble and social cause. After witnessing the magnitude of food wastage in a wedding, a gentleman Ankit Kawatra quit his corporate job and founded Feeding India along with Srishti Jain in 2014. Since then, the team with its five sustainable programs has been working towards picking up excess food and redistributing it to people across hunger spots in 65 plus cities in India. Till date, Feeding India has served 20 million meals through its 12 food recovery vans, 50 plus community fridges and 8,500 plus volunteer-network.

"I was working in a company when I attended a wedding and saw a lot of food being wasted. When I asked, I was told that the leftover food would be thrown. All the extra food in weddings, corporate parties, corporate cafeterias, restaurants and events is just thrown into the bin." This deeply affected him and that was the trigger. It really surprised him and he decided to start something on my own.

 "So we started in 2014. We collected extra food and we started with volunteers. Just to give an idea the global average of around 40 percent of all food in the world is going to waste. We want to solve the problem of hunger and give all the food to the people who need it. At times when extra food is not sufficient, fresh food is cooked. India unfortunately has the largest number of hungry people in the world. Feeding India is now a part of the Zomato family also," says Ankit Kawatra, founder, Feeding India.

Hence we can clearly understand that these young minds have devised a brilliant plan to ensure everyone's goodwill. Since 2014 they have worked very hard to ensure that they achieve only success in what they have started and the magnitude of their progress is unfathomable in terms of effective methods of reaching out to people. The management is of a superior level and is helping towards their ultimate goal of eradicating hunger completely.

Speaking on the progress, Deepinder Goyal, founder & CEO, Zomato, said, "We have so far taken environmental issues head on with non plastic initiatives like preventing the consumption of single-use plastic cutlery and promoting biodegradable packaging for food delivery. As we welcome Feeding India into the Zomato family, we will take this battle a notch higher by helping them build a system where excess food is directed to those in need."

He talks about it in a very positive manner and also says, "As a start, we aim to activate the restaurants on our platform into the Feeding India network and help them use technology to scale their volunteer operations. Feeding India will become a core part of our DNA and a significant step in our mission to ensure 'better food for more people'. My many conversations with Ankit and Srishti have convinced me of our belief in a shared mission, and I am confident that together we will make a positive impact on food wastage and hunger."

Zomato and Feeding India will together target every source of food wastage - farms, restaurants, hotels, supermarkets, corporate cafeterias and events.

"Our ambitious aim is to end hunger and food wastage not just in India, but globally. I'm delighted to strengthen this movement with Zomato, given its vision of 'better food for more people' and our shared mission to combat hunger and food wastage. We see this collaboration as a pivotal step against food insecurity. I believe that restaurants can play a transformational role in powering hunger-free cities, and I look forward to working with the Zomato network in the future," adds Ankit.

On a conclusive note he goes on to say, "Feeding India not only donates excess food from various sources that would otherwise go to landfills but also cooks fresh food through innovative kitchen-models to support people, especially women and children, with limited access to food and nutrition. Over the last four years, the organisation has been recognized by the Queen of England, the United Nations World Food Program and even by the Prime Minister of India. Its reward points program, 'Zomato Piggybank', has helped raise funds equivalent to 22 lakh meals within six months of its launch."