Food Inequity is a term that is used to acknowledge that marginalized communities are more likely to be adversely affected by production and distribution of food because of their own limited resources. Food inequity is often directly related to class divides and/or racial inequality and is the reason many people in those marginalized communities face food insecurity.
Food Insecurity refers to low quality, variety, or desirability of food, disrupted eating patterns, or low food intake.
Food Justice is a movement that is collectively working to ensure universal access to nutritious, affordable, and culturally-appropriate food for all. This movement is significant because, in addition to food inequity and insecurity being tied to racism and classism, these two issues also have ties to obesity. Individuals facing food inequity or food insecurity are less likely to have affordable access to healthy and fresh foods, so the rate of obesity is much higher among individuals in these groups. In supporting food justice, individuals are also supporting the breaking down of racial inequality and class divides, and promoting the health and wellbeing of all people equally.
The fate of food: What we'll eat in a bigger, hotter, smarter world by
WINNER OF THE 2019 NAUTILUS BOOK AWARD In the fascinating story of the sustainable food revolution, an environmental journalist and professor asks the question: Is the future of food looking bleak--or better than ever? "In The Fate of Food, Amanda Little takes us on a tour of the future. The journey is scary, exciting, and, ultimately, encouraging."--Elizabeth Kolbert, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sixth Extinction Climate models show that global crop production will decline every decade for the rest of this century due to drought, heat, and flooding. Water supplies are in jeopardy. Meanwhile, the world's population is expected to grow another 30 percent by midcentury. So how, really, will we feed nine billion people sustainably in the coming decades? Amanda Little, a professor at Vanderbilt University and an award-winning journalist, spent three years traveling through a dozen countries and as many U.S. states in search of answers to this question. Her journey took her from an apple orchard in Wisconsin to a remote control organic farm in Shanghai, from Norwegian fish farms to famine-stricken regions of Ethiopia. The race to reinvent the global food system is on, and the challenge is twofold: We must solve the existing problems of industrial agriculture while also preparing for the pressures ahead. Through her interviews and adventures with farmers, scientists, activists, and engineers, Little tells the fascinating story of human innovation and explores new and old approaches to food production while charting the growth of a movement that could redefine sustainable food on a grand scale. She meets small permaculture farmers and "Big Food" executives, botanists studying ancient superfoods and Kenyan farmers growing the country's first GMO corn. She travels to places that might seem irrelevant to the future of food yet surprisingly play a critical role--a California sewage plant, a U.S. Army research lab, even the inside of a monsoon cloud above Mumbai. Little asks tough questions: Can GMOs actually be good for the environment--and for us? Are we facing the end of animal meat? What will it take to eliminate harmful chemicals from farming? How can a clean, climate-resilient food supply become accessible to all? Throughout her journey, Little finds and shares a deeper understanding of the threats of climate change and encounters a sense of awe and optimism about the lessons of our past and the scope of human ingenuity.
Food insecurity: A matter of justice, sovereignty, and survival by
This book explores the experiences, causes, and consequences of food insecurity in different geographical regions and historical eras. It highlights collective action and political action aimed at food sovereignty as solutions to mitigate suffering. Despite global efforts to end hunger, it persists and has even increased in some regions. This book provides an interdisciplinary perspective on the manifestations of food insecurity, with case studies illustrating how people coped with violations of their rights during the war-time deprivation in France; the neoliberal incursions on food supply in Turkey, Greece and Nicaragua; as well as consequences of radioactive contamination of farmland in Japan.　　This edited collection adopts an analytical approach to understand food insecurity by examining how the historical and political situation in different countries has resulted in an unfolding dialectic of food insecurity and resistance, with the most marginalized people--immigrants, those in refugee camps, poor peasants, etc.--consistently suffering the worst effects yet still maintaining agency to fight back.　　 The book tackles food insecurity on a local as well as a global scale and will thus be useful for a broad range of audiences including students, scholars and the general public interested in studying food crises, globalization and current global issues.
The spirit of soul food: Race, faith, and food justice by
Soul food has played a critical role in preserving Black history, community, and culinary genius. It is also a response to--and marker of--centuries of food injustice. Given the harm that our food production system inflicts upon Black people, what should soul food look like today? Christopher Carter's answer to that question merges a history of Black American foodways with a Christian ethical response to food injustice. Carter reveals how racism and colonialism have long steered the development of US food policy. The very food we grow, distribute, and eat disproportionately harms Black people specifically and people of color among the global poor in general. Carter reflects on how people of color can eat in a way that reflects their cultural identities while remaining true to the principles of compassion, love, justice, and solidarity with the marginalized. Both a timely mediation and a call to action, The Spirit of Soul Food places today's Black foodways at the crossroads of food justice and Christian practice.
Food Justice by
The story of how the emerging food justice movement is seeking to transform the American food system from seed to table. In today's food system, farm workers face difficult and hazardous conditions, low-income neighborhoods lack supermarkets but abound in fast-food restaurants and liquor stores, food products emphasize convenience rather than wholesomeness, and the international reach of American fast-food franchises has been a major contributor to an epidemic of "globesity." To combat these inequities and excesses, a movement for food justice has emerged in recent years seeking to transform the food system from seed to table. In Food Justice, Robert Gottlieb and Anupama Joshi tell the story of this emerging movement. A food justice framework ensures that the benefits and risks of how food is grown and processed, transported, distributed, and consumed are shared equitably. Gottlieb and Joshi recount the history of food injustices and describe current efforts to change the system, including community gardens and farmer training in Holyoke, Massachusetts, youth empowerment through the Rethinkers in New Orleans, farm-to-school programs across the country, and the Los Angeles school system's elimination of sugary soft drinks from its cafeterias. And they tell how food activism has succeeded at the highest level: advocates waged a grassroots campaign that convinced the Obama White House to plant a vegetable garden. The first comprehensive inquiry into this emerging movement, Food Justice addresses the increasing disconnect between food and culture that has resulted from our highly industrialized food system.
Black Food Matters by
An in-depth look at Black food and the challenges it faces today For Black Americans, the food system is broken. When it comes to nutrition, Black consumers experience an unjust and inequitable distribution of resources. Black Food Matters examines these issues through in-depth essays that analyze how Blackness is contested through food, differing ideas of what makes our sustenance "healthy," and Black individuals' own beliefs about what their cuisine should be. Primarily written by nonwhite scholars, and framed through a focus on Black agency instead of deprivation, the essays here showcase Black communities fighting for the survival of their food culture. The book takes readers into the real world of Black sustenance, examining animal husbandry practices in South Carolina, the work done by the Black Panthers to ensure food equality, and Black women who are pioneering urban agriculture. These essays also explore individual and community values, the influence of history, and the ongoing struggle to meet needs and affirm Black life. A comprehensive look at Black food culture and the various forms of violence that threaten the future of this cuisine, Black Food Matters centers Blackness in a field that has too often framed Black issues through a white-centric lens, offering new ways to think about access, privilege, equity, and justice. Contributors: Adam Bledsoe, U of Minnesota; Billy Hall; Analena Hope Hassberg, California State Polytechnic U, Pomona; Yuson Jung, Wayne State U; Kimberly Kasper, Rhodes College; Tyler McCreary, Florida State U; Andrew Newman, Wayne State U; Gillian Richards-Greaves, Coastal Carolina U; Monica M. White, U of Wisconsin-Madison; Brian Williams, Mississippi State U; Judith Williams, Florida International U; Psyche Williams-Forson, U of Maryland, College Park; Willie J. Wright, Rutgers U.
Everybody eats: Communication and the paths to food justice by
Everybody Eats tells the story of food justice in Greensboro, North Carolina--a midsize city in the southern United States. The city's residents found themselves in the middle of conversations about food insecurity and justice when they reached the top of the Food Research and Action Center's list of major cities experiencing food hardship. Greensboro's local food communities chose to confront these high rates of food insecurity by engaging neighborhood voices, mobilizing creative resources at the community level, and sustaining conversations across the local food system. Within three years of reaching the peak of FRAC's list, Greensboro saw an 8 percent drop in its food hardship rate and moved from first to fourteenth in FRAC's list. Using eight case studies of food justice activism, from urban farms to mobile farmers markets, shared kitchens to food policy councils, Everybody Eats highlights the importance of communication--and communicating social justice specifically--in building the kinds of infrastructure needed to create secure and just food systems.
Food justice and narrative ethics: Reading stories for ethical awareness and activism by
Beth A. Dixon explores how food justice impacts on human lives. Stories and reports in national media feature on the one hand hunger, famine and food scarcity, and on the other, rising rates of morbid obesity and health issues. Other stories-food justice narratives-illustrate how to correct the ethical damage created by the first type of story. They detail the nature of oppression and structural injustice, and show how these conditions constrain choices, truncate moral agency, and limit opportunities to live well. With stories from national media, food and farming memoirs, and scholarly ethnographies, Dixon reveals how different food narratives are constructed, and enable identification of just solutions to issues surrounding food insecurity, farm labor, and the lived experience of obesity. Drawing on Aristotle's concept of ethical perception, Dixon demonstrates how we can use narratives to enhance our understanding and ethical competence about injustice in relation to food. Food Justice and Narrative Ethics is a must-read for students of food studies, philosophy, and media studies.
Gender, food and COVID-19: Global stories of harm and hope by
This book documents how COVID-19 impacts gender, agriculture, and food systems across the globe with on-the-ground accounts and personal reflections from scholars, practitioners, and community members. During the coronavirus pandemic with many people under lockdown, continual agricultural production and access to food remain essential. Women provide much of the formal and informal work in agriculture and food production, distribution, and preparation often under precarious conditions. A cadre of scholars and practitioners from across the globe provide their timely observations on these issues as well as more personal reflections on its impact on their lives and work. Four major themes emerge from these accounts and are interwoven throughout: the pervasiveness of food insecurity, the ubiquity of women's care work, food justice, and policies and research that can that can result in a resilience that reimagines the future for greater gender and intersectional equality. We identify what lessons we can learn from this global pandemic about research and practices related to gender, food, and agricultural systems to strive for more equitable arrangements. This book will be of great interest to students, scholars and practitioners working on gender and food and agriculture during this global pandemic and beyond. The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Within our grasp: Childhood malnutrition worldwide and the revolution taking place to end it by
A healthy Earth requires healthy children. Yet nearly one-fourth of the world's children are stunted physically and mentally due to a lack of food or nutrients. These children do not die but endure a lifetime of diminished potential.
During the past thirty years, says Sharman Russell, we have seen a revolution in how we treat these sick children, with a new understanding of the human body and approach to nutrition, and new ways to reach out to hungry mothers and babies. We have gone from unwittingly killing severely malnourished children to bringing them back to health through the "miracle" of ready-to-eat therapeutic food.
Intertwined with stories of scientists and nutrition experts on the front lines of finding ways to end malnutrition for good, Russell writes of her travels to Malawi, one of the poorest and least-developed countries in the world and also the site of pathbreaking, cutting-edge research into childhood malnutrition. (Eighty percent of Malawians are farmers subsisting on less than an acre of land and coping with erratic weather patterns due to global warming; fifty percent live below the poverty line of under $2 a day; and thirty-seven percent of Malawi's children are affected by a lack of food or nutrients.)
As she writes of her personal exploration of new friendships and insights in a country known as "the warm heart of Africa," Russell describes the programs that are working best to reduce childhood stunting. She explores how malnutrition in children is connected to climate change, how vitamins and minerals are crucial in preventing the harmful effects of childhood malnutrition, why the empowerment of women is the single most effective factor in eliminating childhood malnutrition, and what the costs of ending childhood malnutrition are.
Feeding the crisis: Care and abandonment in America's food safety net by
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as food stamps, is one of the most controversial forms of social welfare in the United States. Although it's commonly believed that such federal programs have been cut back since the 1980s, Maggie Dickinson charts the dramatic expansion and reformulation of the food safety net in the twenty-first century. Today, receiving SNAP benefits is often tied to work requirements, which essentially subsidizes low-wage jobs. Excluded populations--such as the unemployed, informally employed workers, and undocumented immigrants--must rely on charity to survive. Feeding the Crisis tells the story of eight families as they navigate the terrain of an expanding network of assistance programs in which care and abandonment work hand in hand to make access to food uncertain for people on the social and economic margins. Amid calls at the federal level to expand work requirements for food assistance, Dickinson shows us how such ideas are bad policy that fail to adequately address hunger in America. Feeding the Crisis brings the voices of food-insecure families into national debates about welfare policy, offering fresh insights into how we can establish a right to food in the United States.
Sustaining global food security: The nexus of science and policy by
Population growth alone dictates that global food supplies must increase by over 50% in coming decades. Advances in technology offer an array of opportunities to meet this demand, but history shows that these can be fully realized only within an enabling policy environment. Sustaining Global Food Security makes a compelling case that recent technological breakthroughs can move the planet towards a secure and sustainable food supply only if new policies are designed that allow their full expression.
Building community food webs by
Our current food system has decimated rural communities and confined the choices of urban consumers. Even while America continues to ramp up farm production to astounding levels, net farm income is now lower than at the onset of the Great Depression, and one out of every eight Americans faces hunger. But a healthier and more equitable food system is possible. In Building Community Food Webs, Ken Meter shows how grassroots food and farming leaders across the U.S. are tackling these challenges by constructing civic networks. Overturning extractive economic structures, these inspired leaders are engaging low-income residents, farmers, and local organizations in their quest to build stronger communities. Community food webs strive to build health, wealth, capacity, and connection. Their essential element is building greater respect and mutual trust, so community members can more effectively empower themselves and address local challenges. Farmers and researchers may convene to improve farming practices collaboratively. Health clinics help clients grow food for themselves and attain better health. Food banks engage their customers to challenge the root causes of poverty. Municipalities invest large sums to protect farmland from development. Developers forge links among local businesses to strengthen economic trade. Leaders in communities marginalized by our current food system are charting a new path forward. Building Community Food Webs captures the essence of these efforts, underway in diverse places including Montana, Hawai'i, Vermont, Arizona, Colorado, Indiana, and Minnesota. Addressing challenges as well as opportunities, Meter offers pragmatic insights for community food leaders and other grassroots activists alike.
Food insecurity on campus: Action and intervention by
The hidden problem of student hunger on college campuses is real. Here's how colleges and universities are addressing it. As the price of college continues to rise and the incomes of most Americans stagnate, too many college students are going hungry. According to researchers, approximately half of all undergraduates are food insecure. Food Insecurity on Campus--the first book to describe the problem--meets higher education's growing demand to tackle the pressing question "How can we end student hunger?" Essays by a diverse set of authors, each working to address food insecurity in higher education, describe unique approaches to the topic. They also offer insights into the most promising strategies to combat student hunger, including * utilizing research to raise awareness and enact change; * creating campus pantries, emergency aid programs, and meal voucher initiatives to meet immediate needs; * leveraging public benefits and nonprofit partnerships to provide additional resources; * changing higher education systems and college cultures to better serve students; and * drawing on student activism and administrative clout to influence federal, state, and local policies. Arguing that practice and policy are improved when informed by research, Food Insecurity on Campuscombines the power of data with detailed storytelling to illustrate current conditions. A foreword by Sara Goldrick-Rab further contextualizes the problem. Offering concrete guidance to anyone seeking to understand and support college students experiencing food insecurity, the book encourages readers to draw from the lessons learned to create a comprehensive strategy to fight student hunger. Contributors: Talia Berday-Sacks, Denise Woods-Bevly, Katharine M. Broton, Clare L. Cady, Samuel Chu, Sarah Crawford, Cara Crowley, Rashida M. Crutchfield, James Dubick, Amy Ellen Duke-Benfield, Sara Goldrick-Rab, Jordan Herrera, Nicole Hindes, Russell Lowery-Hart, Jennifer J. Maguire, Michael Rosen, Sabrina Sanders, Rachel Sumekh
Civil Society and Social Movements in Food System Governance by
This book offers insights into the governance of contemporary food systems and their ongoing transformation by social movements. As global food systems face multiple threats and challenges there is an opportunity for social movements and civil society to play a more active role in building social justice and ecological sustainability. Drawing on case studies from Canada, the United States, Europe and New Zealand, this edited collection showcases promising ways forward for civil society actors to engage in governance. The authors address topics including: the variety of forms that governance engagement takes from multi-stakeholderism to co-governance to polycentrism/self-governance; the values and power dynamics that underpin these different types of governance processes; effective approaches for achieving desired values and goals; and, the broader relationships and networks that may be activated to support change. By examining and comparing a variety of governance innovations, at a range of scales, the book offers insights for those considering contemporary food systems and their ongoing transformation. It is suitable for food studies students and researchers within geography, environmental studies, anthropology, policy studies, planning, health sciences and sociology, and will also be of interest to policy makers and civil society organisations with a focus on food systems. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.tandfebooks.com/doi/view/10.4324/9780429503597, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.
Twenty years of life: Why the poor die earlier and how to challenge inequity by
In Twenty Years of Life, Suzanne Bohan exposes the disturbing flip side of the American dream: your health is largely determined by your zip code. The strain of living in a poor neighborhood, with sub-par schools, lack of parks, fear of violence, few to no healthy food options, and the stress of unpaid bills is literally taking years off people's lives. The difference in life expectancy between wealthy and distressed neighborhoods can be as much as twenty years. Bohan chronicles a bold experiment to challenge this inequity. The California Endowment, one of the nation's largest health foundations, is upending the old-school, top-down charity model and investing $1 billion over ten years to help distressed communities advocate for their own interests. This new approach to community change draws on the latent political power of residents and is driving reform both locally and in the state's legislative chambers. If it can work in fourteen of California's most challenging and diverse communities, it has the potential to work anywhere in the country. Bohan introduces us to former street shooters with official government jobs; kids who convinced their city council members to build skate parks; students and parents who demanded fairer school discipline policies to keep kids in the classroom; urban farmers who pushed for permits to produce and sell their food; and a Native American tribe that revived its traditional forest management practices. Told with compassion and insight, their stories will fundamentally change how we think about the root causes of disease and the prospects for healing.
Reinventing food banks and pantries: New tools to end hunger by
In the US, there is a wide-ranging network of at least 370 food banks, and more than 60,000 hunger-relief organizations such as food pantries and meal programs. These groups provide billions of meals a year to people in need. And yet hunger still affects one in nine Americans. What are we doing wrong? In Reinventing Food Banks and Pantries, Katie Martin argues that if handing out more and more food was the answer, we would have solved the problem of hunger decades ago. Martin instead presents a new model for charitable food, one where success is measured not by pounds of food distributed but by lives changed. The key is to focus on the root causes of hunger. When we shift our attention to strategies that build empathy, equity, and political will, we can implement real solutions. Martin shares those solutions in a warm, engaging style, with simple steps that anyone working or volunteering at a food bank or pantry can take today. Some are short-term strategies to create a more dignified experience for food pantry clients: providing client choice, where individuals select their own food, or redesigning a waiting room with better seating and a designated greeter. Some are longer-term: increasing the supply of healthy food, offering job training programs, or connecting clients to other social services. And some are big picture: joining the fight for living wages and a stronger social safety net. These strategies are illustrated through inspiring success stories and backed up by scientific research. Throughout, readers will find a wealth of proven ideas to make their charitable food organizations more empathetic and more effective. As Martin writes, it takes more than food to end hunger. Picking up this insightful, lively book is a great first step.
Retail Inequality by
Retail Inequality examines the failure of recent efforts to improve Americans' diets by improving access to healthy food. Based on exhaustive research in Greenville, SC, Kenneth H. Kolb documents the struggles of two Black neighborhoods. Outsiders ignored their complaints about the unsavory retail options on their side of town until the emergence of the well-intentioned but flawed "food desert" concept. Soon after, new allies arrived to help, believing grocery stores and healthier options were the key to better health. Their efforts, however, did not change locals' food consumption practices. Retail Inequality explains why and outlines the history of deindustrialization, urban public policy, and racism that are the cause of unequal access to food today. Kolb identifies retail inequality as the crucial concept to understanding today's debates over gentrification and community development. As this book makes clear, the battle over food deserts was never about food--it was about equality.
Experiences of hunger and food insecurity in college by
This volume explores the experience of hunger and food insecurity among college students at a large, public university in north Texas. Ninety-two clients of the campus food pantry volunteered to share their experiences through qualitative interviews, allowing the author to develop seven profiles of food insecurity, while at once exploring the impact of childhood food insecurity and various coping strategies. Students highlighted the issues of stigma and shame; the unwillingness to discuss food insecurity with their peers; the physical consequences of hunger and poor nutrition; the associations between mental health and nutrition; the academic sacrifices and motivations to finish their degree in the light of food insecurity; and the potential for raising awareness on campus through university engagement. Henry concludes the book with a discussion of solutions--existing solutions to alleviate food insecurity, student-led suggestions for additional resources, solutions in place at other universities that serve as potential models for similar campuses--and efforts to change federal policy.
The problem with feeding cities: The social transformation of infrastructure, abundance, and inequality in America by
For most people, grocery shopping is a mundane activity. Few stop to think about the massive, global infrastructure that makes it possible to buy Chilean grapes in a Philadelphia supermarket in the middle of winter. Yet every piece of food represents an interlocking system of agriculture, manufacturing, shipping, logistics, retailing, and nonprofits that controls what we eat--or don't. The Problem with Feeding Cities is a sociological and historical examination of how this remarkable network of abundance and convenience came into being over the last century. It looks at how the US food system transformed from feeding communities to feeding the entire nation, and it reveals how a process that was once about fulfilling basic needs became focused on satisfying profit margins. It is also a story of how this system fails to feed people, especially in the creation of food deserts. Andrew Deener shows that problems with food access are the result of infrastructural failings stemming from how markets and cities were developed, how distribution systems were built, and how organizations coordinate the quality and movement of food. He profiles hundreds of people connected through the food chain, from farmers, wholesalers, and supermarket executives, to global shippers, logistics experts, and cold-storage operators, to food bank employees and public health advocates. It is a book that will change the way we see our grocery store trips and will encourage us all to rethink the way we eat in this country.
Edible Activist Podcast
This podcast provides empowering narratives of emerging black people and people of color who are stewarding the land, healing communities, and advocating for food justice and economic power across the globe.
Food & Justice
This weekly series tackles issues of food access, environmental justice, health disparities, dietary racism, and other topics related to food and justice.
In the interest of full disclosure, the creator of and collaborators for this guide identify with some, but not all of the oppressed identities presented here. As members of the Penn College community, we strive to encourage diversity, inclusion, awareness, equality, and equity. While I have made an attempt to collect and present some of the more timely, relevant, and quality resources on the topics of oppression, I recognize that my collaborators and I are still susceptible to our own implicit biases, privilege, and perspectives. Given our own limited experiences, any thoughts, comments, or suggestions, particularly from members of any marginalized populations, are sincerely welcomed and greatly appreciated.