About Itaam
Every day, good food is thrown away while someone a few streets away would have been glad to eat it. Itaam exists to close that gap, one plate at a time. Our name comes from the Arabic and Urdu word اطعام (itaam), which means feeding others.
The idea
If you cook pasta tonight and one plate is left over, you should not have to throw it away. Put it in a box, post it on Itaam, and someone around you can come and pick it up. That is the whole idea — simple, local and free.
Anyone can share and anyone can pick up. No money changes hands and nobody is asked why they want the food.
Why it matters
According to the UN Environment Programme’s Food Waste Index Report 2024, more than a billion tonnes of food were wasted in 2022, and households were responsible for the largest share. Much of that is perfectly good food — the extra portion, the leftover pot, the bread that will not be finished in time.
Food in the bin wastes the water, energy and money that went into it, and creates greenhouse gases as it rots. Sharing it with a neighbour does the opposite: someone eats, and nothing is wasted.
What we believe
- Always freeFood on Itaam is shared, never sold.
- Dignity firstPickups use a private code. No questions, no explanations.
- Local by designThe map shows food close to you, so sharing takes minutes, not hours.
- Safe for everyonePickup codes, ratings, reporting and review keep the community trustworthy.