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Good morning I go to the supermarket, I find the shelves stacked full of delicious, fresh and competitively-priced products, I go home and I eat them all. For most of my life the supply of accessible and affordable food has been as simple as that. Indeed in recent years the headlines have mostly been about food waste rather than food shortages. How different things look this morning. Spiralling rates of inflation have led to a global cost of living crisis which has left many struggling to afford even the most basic provisions. Just as worrying, the brutal conflict in Ukraine has left the supplies of wheat and grain upon which many of the world’s population depend locked up in storage facilities. The UN General Secretary, Antonio Guterres, warned this week of a global food supply crisis that could last for many years. Hunger is now a threat that stalks the planet, even in our own nation. All this can serve as a reminder of something that previous generations knew all too well which is that food is something that is precious and that needs to be valued. That’s perhaps why the ritual meal lies at the very heart of so many of the world’s faith traditions. For example, for me as a Christian, feasting on bread and wine in the Eucharist each Sunday is the very heart of my life, something I see as both a rich pleasure and a joyful obligation. Whilst a Christian practice, the Eucharist can carry wider messages which speak challengingly into the complex food supply situation the world finds itself in today. The Eucharist is first of all an expression of thanksgiving. That very act of giving thanks can battle against any sense of entitlement and serve as a reminder that food is a gift to treasure rather than something to take for granted and waste. But the Eucharist is also an expression of mutual responsibility. I used to run a church in Camden Town attended both by homeless people and by others who had huge wealth. But in that setting they were a single family sharing in an equal gift. In a time of crisis it is not enough for each person to look out for themselves. Human beings are co-dependent and share a responsibility to ensure that all, especially the poorest, are fed. I very much hope that the current situation does not deteriorate into a full scale global food crisis. But even hard headlines can serve as a powerful reminder that the things that are easily taken for granted are usually the most precious gifts.