And yet, in dramatic contrast to this, you can see that this earth produces an incredible variety of foods​—fruits, grains, nuts and vegetables—​with an amazing diversity in tastes and qualities for preparing delicious, nourishing meals.

The fact is that even now there is enough food to feed all the human family, world wide. A publication of the United Nations World Health Organization points to the real problem, saying:

“The world is rich but not making good use of the wealth within its reach. Millions live in the shadow of chronic hunger and malnutrition, while others eat too much and are thus malnourished in a different sense.”

After showing that some 100,000,000 children today suffer from serious malnutrition, the publication goes on to say:

“The tragic fact is that if all the food now available were distributed equitably in proportion to need among countries and socio-economic groups, not one single child would be suffering from malnutrition. There is enough food in the world today; it is just not distributed according to need.”​—World Health, February-March 1974, pages 3, 6.