A Place at the Table is a documentary that came out in 2012. This documentary tells the story of three Americans who try to maintain their dignity as they struggle to feed themselves and their families. The film contains riveting facts on how hunger is impacting the U.S. According to the film, around 50 Million Americans are food insecure, which means that they don’t know where their next meal is coming from. The documentary also discussed topics such as the lack of nutrition in public school lunches, food stamps, food deserts, and how obesity can also be a sign of hunger and poverty.
After our group watched the film, we were all greatly impacted. Many of the facts and statistics in the documentary were horrifying. One fact that particularly stood out to me was that 1 out of every 2 children in the U.S., are/are going to be on food assistance during some point in their childhood. This fact really struck me because it made me realize how much hunger is impacting our country, especially children. Something else that struck me was that obesity can also be a sign of hunger. Since 1980, the price of fruits and vegetables in the U.S. has gone up by 40%, and the price of processed foods has gone done by the same percentage. Today, there are millions of people in the U.S. who can’t afford nutritious foods. For $3, you can either buy processed food that has approximately 3767 calories, or you can buy a fruit or vegetable that has around 312 calories. Of course, most families who suffer from poverty, can only afford processed foods because you can get a lot more of it for a cheaper price. Something that I found interesting was that around 23.5 million Americans live in food deserts. Before this film, I hadn’t really learned very much about food deserts, but when I found out that millions of people live on them, I was shocked. Food deserts are urban neighborhoods that don’t have access to nutritious and healthy foods because of the lack of supermarkets and grocery stores. Most of these neighborhoods and rural towns only have fast food and convenience stores that only sell processed foods such as candy and chips. The lack of healthy foods such as fruits and vegetables in these communities can lead to obesity and other diet-related diseases such as diabetes and heart disease.
Our group’s next step is to interview organizations such as NYCCAH (New York City Coalition Against Hunger) on how they are trying to sustainably solve hunger in the U.S. We also are planning on volunteering at several soup kitchens in NYC such as The Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen and the All Souls Friday Soup Kitchen.