I often go to some cities in Asia and sometimes will see someone who lives on the street. Many times they are sleeping during the day since it’s so hot and sometimes they look malnourished too. What would be the best foods I could provide them (assuming some restaurants or convenience stores are nearby) which would not spoil?
Why not just leave a small amount of money so they can buy it themselves? It would solve all issues. From allergies, spoiling, and attracting insects or stray dogs.
Because you run into the issue that most healthy things that don’t spoil are rather hard. And many homeless people have issues with their teeth and can’t eat that. So you either leave something less healthy, like sealed soft bread or you ignore food safety rules.
Which isn’t as big of a deal in Asia. Even affluent people ignore it. Foods to look out for would be anything with a lot of soy sauce or vinegar. They tend to last a bit longer. And while it sounds stereotypical, anything with rice will be appreciated.
Leaving fruits could also work.
Cash has the problem of incentivizing performance poverty. I’m not saying that’s the case for everybody. But in larger metropolitan areas where there are people known to donate cash, you can get the professional begger showing up. And then you run into this weird cycle where the professionals chase out the amateurs, the real people in need, because it’s distracting from their revenue generation.
Again I’m not saying that’s all people. But it creates the incentive. Which is why donating to local charities, temples, is more effective they know the local landscape better, they know the people in need, they can make your money work a lot harder than you can make it work, and they’re going to stick around long-term to make sure good things happen.
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