Have you ever been in a position not by choice but rather circumstance, where you were forced to go without food? Well if you haven't, you can only imagine what it was like living on $48.50. Early in October, I accepted a challenge that involved me living off of $48.50 for an entire week. I must admit that indulging in this challenge was certainly overwhelming. But then again, I was grateful for even having the $48.50 to actually spend a week as compared to struggling families who have no income or means of receiving food. The purpose of this assignment was for me to get a firsthand experience of how families on a very constrained SNAP budget are able to cope with this ongoing dilemma. Through it all, I was able to recognize that the government …show more content…
Unfortunately, it is disappointing to know that our nation’s capital is struggling with a large food security and hunger epidemic. Some of the many challenges are the distribution of grocery stores, availability of healthy foods, small amount of healthy foods in the local supermarket, and unequal distribution of farmer’s markets. Grocery stores are not evenly distributed in the area; therefore in order to access the stores, influences like transportation make it even harder. Public transportation is not the most convenient mode of traveling and it has become costly. This leaves people with the decision of walking long distances with heavy bags of food or paying for the bus or train. In addition, depending on the length of traveling, some foods may spoil. Moreover, several of these grocery stores do not offer many healthy food options. In addition, the few healthy options that are available tend to be overpriced. These obstacles are overwhelming to many because it is harder gaining access to the healthy foods than it is to the unhealthy foods. This causes many people to perceive eating a healthy diet to be useless because the immediate challenges become a burden. Also, corner markets are very prevalent in such areas; however they have only a scarce amount of healthy food. Similarly, although farmers markets …show more content…
In the culture that we live in today, food means more than an item that simply travels to the stomach. The type of food one consumes and where one purchases this food from often correlates with how much a person has to spend which depicts how they choose to spend their money. Socially, this learning experience was quite difficult because I had a dinner plan. However, had I not been a the plan, I would have spent more money out of my pocket in attempt to meet up with friends and eat out. The emotional aspect comes into play as one is faced with the bill. In the beginning of the semester, I tend not to look at the prices for the foods I buy because I know I have enough. However, towards the end of the semester I always pay attention to my total at the register and it causes me to be reluctant when handing over my id card to make the payment. Psychologically, purchasing food is equivalent to playing a mind game. One has to constantly make the decision of spending more money on healthy food or spending less on unhealthy food. Lastly, physically I find it difficult when I am up late at night and have to choose whether I want to walk to the 24 hour convenient shop that is located right across from my building or take a hike all the way to the diner which is much
According to Dolgoff and Feldstein (2003), “the needs and goals of the Food Stamp Program are to alleviate hunger and malnutrition by enabling low-income households to buy a nutritious adequate diet” (p. 132). The program also improved the market for local merchants to produce food for eligible low-income households and other agencies such as the School Lunch Program which safeguard the health and wel...
Food deserts are places where healthy foods are not produced nor sold. Unfortunately, Chicago is filled with food deserts. Approximately 600,000 people reside in areas that consist of food deserts (Gallagher, 2006). Nearly 200,000 of those people are children. These children do not have the opportunity for healthier options, which shows an increase in obesity rates (News One Staff, 2011). There are 77 Chicago communities and out of that 77, 23 are food deserts (Gallagher, 2006). Chicagoans-particularly the black communities- are forced to live off the accessible food that is near them. The food deserts are in Austin, North Lawndale, Armour Square, Near South Side, Fuller Park, Grand Boulevard, Washington Park, Woodlawn, West Lawn, Chicago Lawn, Englewood, Ashburn, Auburn Gresham, Beverly, Washington Heights, Morgan Park, Roseland, Pullman, South Deering, Riverdale, South Chicago, and West Pullman (Grossinger, 2007). The communities are usually served by junk food- filled corner stores, which do not offer an abundance of healthy foods. The communities are in desperate need of change.
This is because of smaller weekly food budgets, in addition to poorly stocked stores. Those with lower incomes are more likely to spend money on inexpensive fats and sugars versus fresh fruits and vegetables that are more costly on a per-calorie basis. Healthy foods like whole grain products are more expensive than high-calorie junk foods. Economic forces have driven grocery stores out of many cities in the past few years, leaving only a few, and in some cases none. Many of these people living in these rural urban areas do not own cars and because the grocery stores that are still around are so far away, a person’s shopping trip may require them to take several buses or trains....
Jenson & Fraser’s (2011) discussion on the impact poverty has on children is even more relevant today because of the impacts the recession has had on childhood poverty and the need for more thoughtful social policies which will better elevate families out of poverty. Raedle (2013) reports that enrollment for SNAP has increased and now 15% of Americans are enrolled in SNAP. Raedle’s (2013) report on the rising enrollment in SNAP coincides with Sell, Zlotnik, Noonan & Rubin’s (2010) article discussing how the recession has impacted outcomes for children; Sell, Zlotnik, Noonan & Rubin (2013) discuss how food insecurity can have a major negative impact on childhood wellbeing and can produce negative outcomes into adulthood (p. 14). According to Sell, Zlotnik, Noonan & Rubin (2013) the last recession has resulted in high rates of unemployment, which can take years after a recession to recover, and “unemployment is a known contributor to food insecurity” (p. 16)
Many people believe that the problems associated with hunger are limited to a small part of society and certain areas of the country, but the reality is much different. In many ways, America is the...
More and more farm-to-table restaurants, farmer’s markets, and food co-ops are cropping up to meet the demand among consumers for healthy, local foods, as more chefs and consumers recognize the poorer taste and nutritional integrity of ingredients shipped in from far away. Fruits and vegetables that have to be shipped long distances are often picked before they have a chance to fully ripen and absorb nutrients from their surroundings. Because local food doesn’t have to travel long distances, it is grown in order to taste better and be healthier rather than to be resilient to long travel. The farm-to-table movement also helps local economies by supporting small farmers, which is a dying
A major issue that is occurring in America is a phenomena known as “food deserts”, most are located in urban areas and it's difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food. Whereas in the past, food deserts were thought to be solved with just placing a grocery store in the area, but with times it has become an issue that people are not picking the best nutritional option. This issue is not only making grocery store in food deserts are practically useless and not really eliminating the issue of food deserts because even when they are given a better nutritional option, and people are not taking it. In my perspective, it takes more than a grocery store to eliminate ‘food deserts’. It's more about demonstrating the good of picking the nutritional option and how it can help them and their families. For example, “Those who live in these areas are often subject to poor diets as a result and are at a greater risk of becoming obese or developing chronic diseases.”(Corapi, 2014).
Food insecurity does not discriminate; it reaches many segments of society (Whitney, DeBruyne, Pinna, & Rolfes, 2007). Even through closely related to poverty, not all that have food insecurities are in poverty. Often it is the working poor that are hit the hardest. The working poor are a group that despite having a job, there income is too low to meet their need or that of their family. Most of the working poor (56%) live in families with children, so that the poverty of these workers affects many others as well (Problems Facing the Working Poor, Kim 1999). Many lower to middle class families will temporarily struggle with food insecurity at various times during the year. For these families government assistance may not immediately available. Appling for Supplemental Nutrition Assistanc...
Food insecurity is an issue faced by millions of Americans every day, and the biggest group affected by this is working families with children. Food insecurity is so big that the United States government has now recognized it and provided a definition for it. The United States government has defined food insecurity as “a household level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food” (USDA.gov). Food banks and anti-hunger advocates agree that some of the causes of food insecurity are stagnant wages, increase in housing costs, unemployment, and inflation of the cost of food. These factors have caused food banks to see a change in the groups of people needing assistance. Doug O’Brien, director of public policy and research at Chicago-based Second Harvest says “’we’ve seen a real shift in who we serve. A decade ago, it was almost always homeless, single men and chronic substance abusers. Now we have children and working families at soup kitchens’” (Koch). These families that are feeling the effects of food insecurity will not be only ones affected by it, but all of America. Studies have shown that there is a link between food security, performance in the classroom, and obesity. If this issue is not faced head on, America will have a generation of children not fully prepared for the workforce and high health insurance rates due to obesity health issues.
Poverty is regarded as the major cause of food insecurity. A household food security depends on access to food. America has access to good healthy food. However, a family too poor to buy them do not enjoy food security. Rosenbaum and Neuberger (2005) report that each year the number of people using government food assistance programs grows. “Food stamps are targeted to those with the greatest need for help in purchasing food… [and] helps to lessen the extent and severity of poverty (Rosenbaum and Neuberger 2005)”.
For economists and politicians, there are a few things that still are not considered, and the missing answers are only piling up; someone always has to win or lose out. Food policies are one of them. Bringing urban agriculture to cities is an incomparable move. When community food growing flourishes, the consumers seem to be healthier and smarter about what they eat, less p...
Sharp, R. 2009. Mind games on the menu: The psychological tricks restaurants use to part us from our money. [online] 17th December. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/mind-games-on-the-menu-the-psychological-tricks-restaurants-use-to-part-us-from-our-money-1842872.html [Accessed: 28 Dec 2013].
In the United States of America, the richest nation of the world, one in six Americans do not have enough food to eat. Have you ever wonder why there are so many food banks and food pantries throughout the country? They are not simply, as you thought, existent to offer emergency food assistance. Indeed, they are the main sources of food to millions of food-insecure Americans. Food insecurity, the state of not having sufficient quantity of affordable and nutritious food, has been very widespread and common in America. It affected millions of Americans and has been increasing dramatically in recent years; in 2012, more than 48 millions of food-insecure Americans rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) (McMillan). The depth
Often the better foods can only come from the freshest ingredients and these ingredients are generally expensive. This limits the accessibility to a lot of people who can’t afford an expensive meal. Popular culture encourages us to think about different social classes and there are social and economic forces that influence our individual eating habits. Social class is believed to be the “way we organize people in a hierarchy of levels according to certain factors”(Pechey, 2016). These factors are based on education, occupation, and income(Pechey 2016).
People think that the price of fast food is cheaper than a home-cooked meal. Although many people like to eat fast food because of it is inexpensive and tasty, the actual price of the fast food is not exactly same like the menu. The price of fast food sounds affordable, but actually it is quite expensive. This is because people are influenced by the fast food restaurant’s advertisement. It illustrates the price of a set of fast food is affordable compared to cooking at home. When people go to the fast food outlet, they realize the price at the bill is not as same as the advertisement stated. The price is even higher than the price stated at the advertisement. Although the fast food advertisement provides the information that the price of fast food is low, the price in the advertisement does not include the tax and tips. On the other hand, cooking at home is much cheaper than eating fast food. It is always affordable, healthier and more emotional fulfillment when eating at home and cooking ingredients compare to eating out (Warner, 2015). The people only need to buy the ingredients and cook it by our own.It is always affordable because people only need to pay ingredients and cook it at home. There are no tax and extra tips! If people prepare their food in large quantities at home, it is more economical than buy several sets of fast food. According to Yeager (2010), “A family that commits to eating at home can save $3000 in one year and eat just as well,” (p. 52). Save and