föstudagur, 3. mars 2023

One-pot citizens of the world

Everybody who knows me knows that I love to cook. In fact anybody who might have stumbled across this blog might know that I really enjoy cooking and baking for that matter. I pretty much like everything about the process from deciding what to cook, making a list and even shopping for the groceries (yes, a true story), the cooking itself is an act I enjoy to the fullest and then comes the best part - eating. Stuffing my face is one of my favorite hobbies (yes, another true story). I've always considered myself lucky to find such enjoyment in cooking, I happen to know a couple with children and having to cook a meal is pure torture and headache for both of them, neither one of them likes cooking, neither one of them is any good at it either. 

The fact of the matter is this: we all need to eat. Just as we need to sleep and breathe we need to eat and drink. Enjoying myself in the kitchen is not in all it's entirety luck, rather a privilege. What do I mean by that? Well, looking at UN's 17 sustainable development goals  it is easy to see how my passion described here above quickly becomes a privilege. To buy all the food I want for my recipes to cook in my pots and pans in my cosy kitchen I need money, therefore I do not suffer from poverty. Cooking every day keeps my stomach full so I do not suffer from hunger. Because I am able to buy good ingredients and cook meals right at home I am able to maintain good health and therefore my own well being. I have been fortunate enough to have an education that has enabled me to seek job opportunities that again enable me to earn for my passion. Because of gender equality, which certainly has changed a lot from my mother's generation to my own generation, my boyfriend also makes me wonderful meals to enjoy. Clean water straight from the fossetts in my kitchen are vital to my health and well being and also aids to my sanitation. Affordable and clean energy enables me to use my stove and turn the light on so I can better enjoy my activities. Decent work, economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace, justice and strong institutions along with partnerships for the goals all end up on my plate in my cosy little kitchen because I am privileged.

But, being privileged doesn't give me the right to turn a blind eye to the fact that I am. Being privileged means that you are obliged to use your good fortunes to make the world a better place for all, no matter how big or small. If you are reading this blog I will assume that you have some good fortune, the very least you are sitting in front of a screen somewhere reading these words. I urge you to find out as much as you can about the 17 sustainable development goals and then to take it even further, compare them to your own life and reflect on what you find. How can you make this world better?

In case you came here thinking there would be a recipe, I was inspired to write this when looking through the news at The New Yorker and caught myself reading this in the midst of it all.

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