Real Hunger Games

Globally, the UN reports over 800M people live with hunger, that is 1 person in every 9 on this planet. According to FeedingAmerica, in 2014, 1 in 7 Americans relied on a food bank. The item that is so horrifying is that FeastMedia reports that 1 in 6 children are hungry. FeedingAmerica writes that 89% of families with children were food insecure; and that 84% of those families report buying cheap fast food to meet their children’s food needs.

Herstory

At one point in my life, when I was young (~8 years of age), my family was in the USA and consisted of five children with our mom. I am the oldest, and we are all ~2 years apart; so you can easily see we were a very young and large family. My mother was an immigrant to this country, and by then a citizen. However, she had limited english skills, limited education, no car, and no real work experience. We had nothing but our suitcases of clothes, healthy bodies, and a German “will-do” attitude. My mother, with help, signed up for governmental assistance to cover rent and includeded food stamps.

Obviously, that governmental assistance was not enough. We survived, thanks to my mother’s food decisions and knowledge, and because of help from others. At times my mother and I would skimp on ourselves, so that the younger children would have more to eat. Unfortunately, this story continues to be shared by many families who experience food insecurity.

This brief glimpse into a part of my past is to provide legitimacy; I know what it means to worry about food. I have experienced hunger. But my experience is also why I am truly horrified to read families taking their children to fast food joints. The answer to food insecurity is multi-faceted, but a critical part, is to learn how to maximize existing food.

Without a doubt, children need to be fed nutritious foods, otherwise they do poorly in school and poor nutrition affects their short and long-term health. (We are also learning that it will also effect their children’s children’s health as well.) I know it can be done because we did it. But it really does “take a village” to meet the need, because food insecurity is rarely just about food. There are other issues involved like family history and dynamics, mental health, etc.

Stores Role:

Americans have a tendency to eat the same things over again, and have limited knowledge about the various veggies that exist. A good example is, how many people actually know how to cook a rutabaga, parsnips, kohlrabi, and so on. In Europe, there is a tendency to eat food in season, so you learn how to use various veggies and fruit. Because my mother knew how to cook using these foods, and they were always cheaper than the usual veggies, we ate better than others in our situation. She also made a deal with the produce people, and would buy the “ugly” or “older” looking produce they could not put on the shelves. She would buy dented cans, or slightly out of date foods. We got great discounts on these foods because people were willing to help.

Farmers + Butchers Roles:

During this time we lived in an area that had many military families, and as a result there was a large German community. Using those German connections, my mother hooked up with some German butchers and farmers who would sell direct to us. The farmers, for example, would provide 100# bags of potatoes at a fraction of cost that stores would charge; and since we knew how to properly keep these foods we had them available all the time. The butchers would sell us the portions of the cow Americans would not eat, or would consider the lesser cuts of meat. An example is tongue, which we knew made a good stew. The butcher would throw in some chickens too skinny for the Americans to buy. The result was with my mothers knowledge of food, and spending wisely, she was able to feed five growing kids.

Children‘s Roles:

Feeding us was a family affair, not just my mothers responsibility. My siblings and I worked blueberry and strawberry farms in the summer to bring in money. I was nearly 6’ tall when I was ~ten years old so could babysit; everyone thought I was older. We would all dutifully come home and give our mother the money we had made, which was pooled to fund food, but also cover our school necessities. (Were we sometimes pissy about giving her the money? Regretfully yes, I have to admit since I earned it I wanted to spend it.)

One of my brothers would pick neighbors fruit trees and offer to mow their yards, for a negotiated price of some of the fruit from their trees. My mother knew how to can, so we were able to utilize all the food he brought in.

Another brother would fish in a local lake which my mother and he would clean and put in the freezer for use when needed. (My mom did not really like fish so it was our meat of last resort, but thankfully it was there for us to use.) Everyone of “working” age did their part to help bring in money or food.

By the way, because of this experience when my fourth grade teacher, Mr. Beasley, read the Boxcar Children to us I identified with that group of kids fending for themselves. I still own an copy of that book now.

Religious People‘s Roles:

Local people who had no family relationship or ethnic connection to us would help us because of their religious beliefs. A Mormon family, who canned and stored years worth of food in their cellar, would give us their older home-canned goods. This would occur if they had canned too much and needed to rotate out the older food. They would arrive and give my mother sacks of jarred food. We were careful to always clean those jars and return them for reuse.

Government‘s Role:

The government helped by providing food stamps that my mother would use very wisely to buy raw foods. The only processed foods she did buy, that I remember, were boxes of mac-n-cheese; which you could get 4 for $1 when on special. (This was the only cheesy thing I remember us eating.) She would buy oatmeal, peanut butter, beans, and rice. I do not remember her baking anything other than cookies and some quick-loafs, so she must have bought bread too. Later she would also buy generic morning cereal.

School‘s Role:

The school would help by subsidizing lunch. We would get a daily pint of milk with a hot school lunch. It cost us five cents a day and we paid it with our “berry money.” Not the best looking food, but hot and consistent, so my mother did not have to provide lunch. It was therefore important we went to school every day, skipping school would have meant no lunch that day.

We were helped by many people in our community. It allowed us to meet our food needs during a period of time when we needed the help. Our circumstances changed dramatically when I was ~11 and my mother met a man she would later marry. We bought and moved into a house that had a yard to grow food, with a walnut, cherry and other fruit trees. Food was no longer an issue but, as with any family, other issues would come up.

Conclusion

In California, over 4.3M people or 11% of the population experience food insecurity. In my county, for 2017, the count was over 113k. Hunger is everywhere in this “land of plenty.” You cannot tell who is hungry just by just looking at the people around you. Hungers face is a student, a child, an elderly person, families, and single people of our age.

What can we do locally?

• Support local food markets
• Support community gardens and grow your own
• Donate food or money to food banks and shelters
• Support food drives with money and products
• If working at a food business convince them to donate
• Be an advocate for fair wages
• Support school meal programs and school gardens
• Sponsor a food drive at your place of work
• Support those who work on this issue

What can we do globally?

• Support programs like Heifer
• Shop ethically
• Urge the USA to be a global partner in the fight against hunger

–Patty

— ** —

NEWS: 7/1 Growers Express is recalling some fresh vegetable products for possible listeria contamination. Butternut squash, cauliflower, zucchini and select veggie bowls are included in the voluntary recall and were sold in 29 states under the Green Giant Fresh, Trader Joe’s and the Signature Farms brands, according to a recall notice posted on the Food and Drug Administration website Monday.