Food Insecurity in Several Contexts

We all need to eat in some form or another to survive. Along with water and sleep, and oxygen and shelter, you won’t last long without food. Or, if you do it certainly won’t be enjoyable or a high quality of life. Despite how necessary all of these things are, few if any of them are guaranteed. The politics of water, labor, and housing, as well as COVID-19 and climate change, are beyond the scope of what we are looking at here. However, food is exactly what we’ll be focusing on.

Food insecurity is defined by Feeding America as “a lack of consistent access to enough food for every person in a household to live an active, healthy life.” When many of us think about food insecurity, we think about the most extreme scenarios - no food at all, empty shelves, and so on. However, the reality is that food insecurity can take several forms. It might be having to live on food that doesn’t give you all the nutrients and food groups that you need to be healthy. It might be a lack of diet diversity because you can only afford a few things. It might be sleeping to avoid the hunger from skipped meals. In any case, it is a more diverse issue than many of us who have not experienced food insecurity realize.

Now let’s talk about who food insecurity impacts. In the United States, around 10% of households are food insecure. The COVID-19 pandemic has only increased this number. Food insecurity also does not impact all individuals equally. It varies by location and age, race and ethnicity, income level, disability status, education level, and so much more. This is an issue heavily influenced by systemic inequalities, and often factors of marginalization compound to make it far worse for some than others.

Those who are food insecure aren’t necessarily left without resources. However, accessing these resources is often far more difficult than it needs to be. Food pantries may be challenging to access for those without personal transportation or ID, and even if you do get there the food options may not be what you need. Furthermore, coordinating family and employment commitments to get to a food pantry can make it even harder. Plus, navigating bureaucratic systems of ID requirements and applications for programs like SNAP can erect even more barriers to accessing necessary resources.

Ultimately, food insecurity is a very complex issue, but the solutions to it do not need to be. If you are someone not experiencing food insecurity, consider looking into ways you can support food insecure people in your area, whether through volunteering or donating food or money. If you are food insecure, know that you are not alone, and that there are people who want to support you. In sum, be kind to others.