{"id":2780,"date":"2019-06-05T17:00:27","date_gmt":"2019-06-05T09:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/?p=2780"},"modified":"2021-12-01T20:39:39","modified_gmt":"2021-12-01T12:39:39","slug":"food-fasting-and-the-meaning-of-ramadan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/story\/2780\/food-fasting-and-the-meaning-of-ramadan\/","title":{"rendered":"Food, fasting and the meaning of Ramadan"},"content":{"rendered":"

What is the right diet? When do we really need to eat? Protein from meat or protein from vegetables?\u00a0Slow food or fast food? Organically grown or genetically modified?\u00a0Halal<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0Haram<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\"Organic

Lunch made from organic ingredients Humayan Ministry Organic Farm in Negros. Greenpeace believes facilitating people’s access to a varied diet of ecologically farmed foods, through home and communal gardens is the most effective and sustainable solution to tackle nutrition deficiency in the long term.<\/p><\/div>\n

Countless debates about food happen throughout our planet, with word battles among expert groups\u00a0and industry players and food advocates. The never-ending story continues as we speak. Next to\u00a0territorial disputes\u00a0and\u00a0immigration challenges, fulfilling even the most basic needs of humanity, such as\u00a0food, has become a global issue. Both politically and ethically, food sovereignty depicts humanity\u2019s\u00a0struggles to fulfill certain needs. The soil sustains plants, plants produce fruits, and fruits are consumed\u00a0by man. But who controls the food chain?<\/p>\n

Food safety is always important to us. We always make sure that the food we eat has a valuable effect on our well-being. In a healthy-living lifestyle, it\u2019s always been a long-term commitment to maintain proper food intake. This directly relates to the quality of the food we eat. From the farms to our tables, from harvest baskets to our dining plates. How much do we really know about food production?<\/p>\n

\u201cO mankind, eat from whatever is on earth [that is] lawful and good and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy.\u201d (Quran 2:168)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Heirloom

Chef Giney Villar’s dishes prepared during the luncheon in Quezon City. Chef Villar, an advocate of an ecological agriculture supports Greenpeace calls in seeking to agree on the framework and elements of a food policy that will cater to sustainable, climate resilient agriculture to produce safe and healthy food that is accessible to all.<\/p><\/div>\n

Religion plays a key role and guides us in the way we value the food we eat. Many verses in the Holy\u00a0Quran advice that healthy eating relates to the interconnectedness of physical and spiritual health, and\u00a0that eating not only satisfies hunger but also has an effect on how well we worship. Allah provides food,\u00a0food is received by man, and man worships Allah. How do we value Allah\u2019s gift to us?<\/p>\n

In the time of Holy Ramadan, Muslims fast from dawn until sunset. It is not done for the purpose of\u00a0physically training oneself to endure hunger, but rather to discipline the self \u2013 the ego \u2013 to relinquish\u00a0physical desires for the sake of Allah. So during\u00a0Iftar<\/em>, the evening meal that ends daily fasting, the act of\u00a0eating becomes a form of worship to Allah.<\/p>\n

And we say these words when breaking the fast:<\/p>\n

\u201cAllahumma inni laka sumtu wa bika aamantu wa alayka tawakkaltu wa ala rizq-ika- aftartu<\/em>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which translates to:<\/p>\n

\u201cO Allah! I fasted for You and I believe in You and I put my trust in You and I break my fast with Your sustenance\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"National

Young leaders from all over the Philippines hold the seedlings to symbolise their call to the presidentiables to prioritise food and Ecological Agriculture in their electoral agenda during the national youth congress on food, nutrition and ecological agriculture. The youth congress is organised by Greenpeace as part of #IAmHampaslupa campaign, which engages with Filipino youth to help shape the country’s programs and policies towards safe, healthy and sustainable food and agriculture systems.<\/p><\/div>\n

Unquestionably, we ourselves have the hand\u00a0to make our own life-decisions<\/a>. Every day. And food is high\u00a0on that list. We have to spend more time to reflect on where our food comes from…both spiritually and\u00a0practically. Who produced it? Is it teeming with pesticides and chemicals? Does it contain genetically\u00a0modified organisms? Did it travel far and wide, gaining a rather big carbon footprint<\/a>? Perhaps we must\u00a0re-learn the capability of producing our own food or sourcing locally. And remind ourselves to thank\u00a0Allah in our everyday lives.<\/p>\n

Eid Mubarak!<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Francisco “Kiko” Noveda, a Balik-Islam, is the Actions Coordinator for Greenpeace Southeast Asia based in the Philippines. You can follow his updates via Twitter @izzecoh.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This story was originally posted on July 6, 2016.<\/a><\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n \t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\tReconnect with food\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

It\u2019s time for an eco-food revolution.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t \n TAKE ACTION\n <\/a>\n \t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/section>\n\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the right diet? When do we really need to eat? Protein from meat or protein from vegetables?\u00a0Slow food or fast food? Organically grown or genetically modified?\u00a0Halal\u00a0or\u00a0Haram? Countless debates…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":2440,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[23],"p4-page-type":[16],"class_list":["post-2780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability","tag-food","p4-page-type-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2780","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2780"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11286,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2780\/revisions\/11286"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2780"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/philippines\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=2780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}