Food Security & Sustainability
As someone who works in food systems everyday, it can be hard for me to remember that what I consider “everyday” terminology might not be familiar to others. This is not because I’m some brilliant person studying hard to conceptualize ideas, but rather, different fields of study develop terminology that they find helpful. Unfortunately, this terminology can create a communicative barrier and can be exclusionary to people who aren’t acquainted with it. Food Security is a term that has become ubiquitous in academia, media and scientific reports, but content regarding it can be confusing to understand if you aren’t familiar with the definition of Food Security in the first place.
What is Food Security?
Food security is guaranteed access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. This includes the availability of nutritional, safe, culturally appropriate foods and the ability to acquire and cook said food in appropriate ways, without feelings of shame or guilt. Essentially: always knowing where your next meal will come from. Food insecurity is any limitation of that access.
Food insecurity is a symptom of insufficient working wages, inadequate access to housing, and a variety of other aspects of everyday life that can lead to poverty. Food insecurity is caused by a network of unjust systems and the inequitable distribution of resources within our society. Food insecurity rates among BIPOC communities are often double or even triple that of their white neighbors within the US.
Why not “hunger”?
Hunger is a temporary physiological feeling that we all experience to varying degrees throughout our lives. However, while I’m always hungry when I wake up in the morning, I have the security of knowing there’s a bunch of cereal in my cupboards and enough money on my debit card to buy a healthy, nutritious lunch. I’m secure and free from the stress around where my next meal will come from. The word hunger is so commonly used and dramatized by food-secure individuals that it’s meaning has become too vague for stand-alone use. For example, I might tell my coworker “ugh I’m starving!” when noon rolls around and we will promptly take a break to eat lunch, but the reality is that I’m not starving (defined as suffering or dying from hunger), I’m just really hungry, yet the use of this terminology in this context is not seen as abnormal. “Hunger” has been used to describe people who are food insecure in the past, but it doesn’t adequately depict the perpetual lack of access to sufficiently healthy food that is caused by systemic cycles of poverty.
Food security is multifaceted
As you can see in the definition of food security above, food security encompasses the psychological, cultural, and personal connections to food. We all know that food is essential for mental wellbeing, community connection, and holistic health, and food security recognizes that. Food security addresses:
Access to nutrition: This access is integrated into food security because there are many members of our global community that have access to high calorie food that have very low nutritional value. Some researchers call this “hidden hunger” or “overnutrition” because individuals may not look underweight, but suffer from chronic health issues and are limited in their activity due to their diets.
Access to cookware: If you physically don’t have access to cooking utensils or necessary cooking instruments like a stove, then food offered to you by programs that address food insecurity (like a food bank) may still embody a sense of inaccessibility. If you’re unable to open cans of food and/or cook it in a reasonable manner, how are you supposed to eat with dignity?
Access to foods you can recognize: For many people in our communities, low cost foods or foods that are available at a food bank are unrecognizable or aren’t a part of your cultural diet. These are often referred to as “culturally appropriate foods” and can very greatly depending on the makeup of ethnic identities in a community. Sometimes this can be access to certain spices, staple grains or fruits and vegetables. Some food security initiatives support local communities in growing more of their own food as both an increase in nutrition as well as increased production of crops that aren’t carried in local grocery stores.
How is food security related to sustainability?
On an international scale, our global food security is directly related to how we treat our planet. If we do not make a global effort to curb climate change, take care of our soil, and support regenerative farming practices, we will continue to see global food insecurity on the rise, and the subsequent and avoidable loss of life due to insufficient nutrition. We need to focus on sustainable agriculture like our lives depend on it—because they do.
Within our communities, sustainable food systems cannot make a wide-spread impact when only wealthy people can support and access them. This perceived financial barrier to sustainable food systems is ubiquitous around the United States and actively hurts low-income communities, as well as the environment. When, instead, everyone is participating and supporting local farmers, purchasing responsibly grown food, and eating in ways that make them feel good, these sustainable systems can thrive. Unfortunately, we currently have a system where nutrient-poor food is the least expensive and plant-based and/or low-impact foods are seen as inaccessible for many low-income families. Rather than asking resource-restricted farmers to charge even less for food raised sustainably, we need to create a system where everyone can access sustainable options, and foods that have a greater impact on the planet are more expensive. We can create ways for low-income families to spend more money on food by increasing the funding of programs like SNAP (commonly called “food stamps”) and creating affordable housing options in cities across the globe. With more money to spend on healthy, sustainable food, more people can participate in supporting their local and sustainable economy.
What can we do?
Equity and dignity need to be at the heart of our work in increasing food security in our communities. There has historically been a “beggars can’t be choosers” mentality in anti-hunger work, but many organizations are working against that. Before donating your dusty cans from the back of your cupboard to your local food bank, consider getting creative in using up that food and donating money instead. Often food banks are able to do much more with monetary funds, like buying fresh fruits and vegetables, culturally appropriate foods, and hiring staff to provide advisory services to low-income families to make sure they’re getting access to safe housing, SNAP benefits and other essential services.
During these incredibly difficult times, food insecurity is on the rise. As unemployment rises, incomes fall and folks have to make the choice between food and other essential bills and goods. Food insecurity is a direct symptom of economics, and is one of the many ways that access to money and resources directly affects our health and well being. During this time it can feel easy to feel helpless, but local food systems and food banks are resilient and working overtime. Check out our past articles about updates on COVID-19’s effects on the food system, and ways that you can contribute to sustainably providing the nutritiously and bountiful food that everyone deserves. When in doubt? Grow a garden, share with your neighbors, donate.
