McHenry uses soup to protest War on Terror
Keith McHenry, co-founder of Food Not Bombs, a “non-violent direct action organization” that protests war and distributes free vegetarian and vegan meals to people across the globe, spoke at the Green Quad Learning Center Tuesday night in an event sponsored by Sustainable Carolina, Students Advocating a Greener Environment and Columbia’s own Food Not Bombs chapter.
McHenry detailed the organization’s colorful history and explosive growth from what began with his observations of incredible waste as a produce worker at a “commercial organic store” in Boston.
“I saw that we were throwing out a lot of food that wouldn’t last more than a few days in a customer’s refrigerator or apples that weren’t quite apple-shaped and I thought, ‘This is such a shame! We have so much food that could be eaten but we can’t sell it!’” McHenry said. “So, I asked my supervisor if I could have all of the food that was going to be thrown away anyway and I brought it to housing projects in Boston.”
When McHenry saw an opulent glass building only a block away from these housing projects that held a major missile-designing company, the idea for Food Not Bombs was born.
Food Not Bombs’ first demonstration was outside of a major Boston bank, the board members of which also sat on the boards of weapons companies to which the bank loaned money.
“We decided to make a big pot of soup and demonstrate outside of the bank during a board meeting,” McHenry said. He along with friends and 70 men from a nearby homeless shelter demonstrated by handing out free soup to anyone who wanted it while also providing literature promoting peace and advocating “to change society so no one has to stand in line at a food bank.”
Fast-forward to 2011 and Food Not Bombs chapters are currently serving over 1,000 cities worldwide and have extended their efforts to providing affordable housing to the homeless and, most notably and controversially, demonstrating against the War on Terror. The group and McHenry himself have both been reportedly put on the FBI terror watch list.
“I’ve probably been arrested fewer than 200 times for handing out free food,” said McHenry with a chuckle. Since the group first took hold in San Francisco in 1988, Food Not Bombs members have been arrested at many of the protests that they supply food to for distributing food without a permit.
Though Food Not Bombs’ reach has spread since its first demonstration 31 years ago, the organization still uses the same methods.
“Most of the food that we use is recovered; we talk to grocery stores, produce markets, bakeries, et cetera and see if we can have the food that they don’t use,” said McHenry, who went on to state that 40 percent of the developed world’s food is discarded before it reaches the table. “The idea is to spend as little as possible; this should be something that people of every economic background can do, and it’s really amazing how much food you can get.”
Food Not Bombs’ Columbia chapter, which feeds the community every Sunday in Finlay Park, originally approached Sustainable Carolina about having McHenry speak this past August.
“We thought that he sounded like an interesting speaker who’d bring up a lot of issues around food and activism,” said Sustainable Carolina Assistant Director Jason Craig. “We’re interested in promoting anyone who wants to ask questions about the sustainability of how we do things, how we feed ourselves and how we take care of ourselves as our community.”
When approached by Food Not Bombs Columbia, Sustainable Carolina connected the group with SAGE and other student organizations in order to arrange the event.
“Little did we know that it would coincide with the Occupy movement,” said Lisa Roberts of Food Not Bombs Columbia, which she founded with USC students in 2002 “with pots on the ground of Finlay Park.” The group has been providing food to Occupy Columbia protesters throughout the occupation.
“Since Oct. 15, every meal for those occupying the Statehouse has been provided by Food Not Bombs,” she said.
As a “huge percentage,” according to McHenry, of Food Not Bombs’ supporters are college students or college-aged, Roberts said Food Not Bombs Columbia is looking to move its meeting place to an area closer to campus.
“We need to be out in the public where people will walk by,” Roberts explained. “We want to make it so more students can get involved.”
Food Not Bombs Columbia is already quite successful. This past Sunday, it fed about 200 homeless.