Development charity Rikolto aims to create Belgium’s largest dinner party with the latest of its annual fund-raising actions.
Rikolto, formerly known as Vredeseilanden, will have volunteers out on the streets of Belgium this weekend, from Friday to Sunday inclusive, selling wooden spoons. The spoons, aside from their usual purpose, are also symbolic of the Greatest Dinner, this year’s action in support of millions worldwide who need a sustainable and fair food system.
“world problems like climate change, drought, hunger and obesity are for a large part the result of how we produce and consume food,” according to Rikolto spokesperson Jelle Goossens. “That is why Rikolto works worldwide with farmers’ organisations, companies and governments to make sure our food is good for people and planet: for the farmer who has to live from it, for us and for the environment.”
Aside from the three-day spoon sale, Rikolto is also organising The Greatest Dinner party, by which they aim to bring 10,000 people around the dinner table, not all at once, but at 1,000 different dinners in 1,000 people’s homes.
The idea is simple: organise a dinner party and invite your friends to sign up via the Greatest Dinner website. Ask them for a donation, then donate the whole lot to Rikolto.
“By taking part you let it be seen how important it is for food to be a good thing for people and for the planet,” Goossens said. “That sends a signal to policy-makers, food companies and supermarkets to make the choice of sustainable, fair and healthy food the obvious choice.”
Already at 07.00 this morning, before the action had officially started, it had gathered organisers for 77 dinners, and attracted 599 dinner guests. But not only private homes are open to those willing to take part. Restaurants are also taking part, contributing part of the cost of a meal to the charity. Among them are the cafe attached to the Kaaitheater in Brussels, the restaurant of Averbode abbey, the cafe of the STUK music venue in Leuven, local branches of Rikolto and even the home of Jelle Goossens himself, in Kessel-Lo.
Alan Hope
The Brussels Times
