More than 5,000 Greeks have eaten over 2 tons of fruit and vegetables rejected by food stores in an event organized within the context of a global campaign called “Feeding5000” that highlights the waste of food in advanced societies.

People lined up in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki on Sunday to eat “briam”, a medley of vegetables cooked in large casseroles, as well as crepes and fruit salads.

According to the organizers, the vegetables were of the local farmers’ production and they had been rejected by food stores, either because of their shape or because the stores decided to cancel contracts with the farmers. The produce, said the organizers, was perfectly edible and about 30 percent of the annual global foodstuff production gets lost or wasted.