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The really important Christmas shopping is done; We got the food. 

*But not without some drama.*

The supermarket was very full as is to be expected a day before Christmas (Finns are impatient and celebrate on the 24th) and the trolleys were overflowing. However, since everyone pretty much eats the same food here, the trolleys can look near identical. After 40 mins of  shopping and while we were collecting more unnecessary food, we turned to find our nearly full trolley gone. *Fuck.*

My wife and I split up to see if we could find our kidnapped groceries and it was me who discovered it about 30 metres away. I went up to it as a woman was putting some cheese in and because I came uncomfortably close to her personal trolley space, she glanced at her purse and then gave me a dirty look - until I explained that she has our trolley. And then she gave me a very embarrassed look. 

She took a couple items out and then waled off to get her own trolley, and as I pushed my near full cart to find my wife and tell her of my glorious recovery, the trolley thief was in front as she found her rightful cart. It was nearly *empty!*

Jeez.

Without thinking the worst of her (Christmas spirit and all), I assume that like me, she doesn't like the crowds either and just wants to get out of there. However, I actually don't mind crowds in general, I just don't like *Finnish* crowds as they have no understanding of how to behave when there are more people in their vicinity than they can count on half a hand of fingers. 

![IMG_20191223_101952.jpg](https://files.steempeak.com/file/steempeak/tarazkp/qa1VaBj4-IMG_20191223_101952.jpg)

We are going to family for the main Christmas meal and my wife is preparing some food to take for what is a relatively large group of people. For *real Christmas,* her parents are visiting us and we will have another meal of baked ham and the selection of traditional casseroles that all taste the same, and on Boxing Day, we will visit family again for what is going to be a vegan meal (lame), which we will cook for again. I am glad this is only once a year - although I'd be happy eating the ham more often. 

I don't complain about having food to eat though, and even though my daughter has plenty of allergies, we are lucky that there is food available that we can get for her. Frozen berries, gluten-free pasta, soy and coconut yoghurts and other allergy considerate food items are available, although not necessarily commonplace. One of the things my father instilled in us as children was, *don't take food for granted.* While vital for life, the selection is definitely a luxury item for many people in the world, and this is not lost on me and food supply and distribution is definitely an area that we can improve on globally.

Perhaps as there are more blockchained tracking processes integrated into the supply chain management systems, there may be an increased possibility to better handle the supply and find areas of opportunity to cut down on wastage. Combine this with self-driving and automated delivery systems that cut costs further, and there could be the chance to dramatically improve the way food resources are managed and therefore increase health outcomes.

While I know that a lot of people look to charity services and think giving is the answer, it will only ever have limited success, especially at scale. What needs to happen is that processes and our daily behaviors have to support sustainability, which is a challenge considering that many of our consumptive desires are not conducive to this cause. This isn't only for food of course, but our environment in general. 

Well, we are home now and the reclaimed stolen food has been packed away and the small ham (4kg) is in the oven for the next 7 or 8 hours. A weird thing for an Australian is that a lot of the *cold food* is currently stored on the balcony, as there is no room in the fridge. There will be no white Christmas for us again this year (global warming I suppose) but it is hovering just above zero, so the balcony can chill some drinks and keep less sensitive food cold. In "real winter" it will be more freezer-like out there of course. 

Now, my wife is going to start on the cakes for tomorrow and I think it might be time for me...

*to take a nap.*


Taraz
[ a Steem original ]

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