When King Charles was born on 14th November 1948 post-war food rationing was still in place. So, very fitting that he should mark his 75th birthday with the launch of a new project aimed at alleviating hunger in the 21stcentury. The issue now is not a lack of food overall but it being in the wrong place at the wrong time. While millions go hungry tonnes of surplus food is simply thrown away. The King’s new Coronation Food Project will aim to collect surplus food and get it to those most in need.
The need to get food into the mouths of the hungry has been an issue throughout history and features prominently in the pages of the Bible. From the wanderings of the Israelites in the Egyptian desert to hungry crowds following Jesus, lack of food has been a problem. But solving it has also been part of God’s agenda. Rejoicing in the news of her pregnancy Mary praised God and declared ‘he has filled the hungry with good things’; and as an adult the child she bore promised that he was the ‘bread of life’ and that whoever came to him would never go hungry.