Thursday November, 30, 2017
What is "Food Security?"
The state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food
I made a lot of short references to the various levels of food security on my Instagram page @lexcatl. What I wasn't able to include on those posts was the formal definitions of terms we hear often: food security and hunger.
Food Security: The condition assessed in the food security survey is a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food
Hunger: An individual-level physiological condition that may result from food insecurity
The USDA defines food security for a family as:
Access by all members at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life. Food security includes at a minimum (1) the ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods, and (2) an assured ability to acquire acceptable foods in socially acceptable ways (that is, without resorting to emergency food supplies, scavenging, stealing, or other coping strategies).
Below, you'll see the categories used by the USDA to conduct a national annual survey of 50,000 households
High - Household has no problems or anxiety about consistently accessing adequate food
Marginal - Household had problems at times or anxiety about accessing adequate food, but the quality, variety, and quantity of their food intake were not substantially disrupted
Low - Households reduced the quality, variety, and desirability of their diets, but the quantity of food intake and normal eating patterns were not substantially disrupted
Very Low - At times during the year, eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and food intake reduced because the household lacked money and other resources for food
I'd like you to take a moment to consider these different categories. Could you, at some point in your life, have been placed in one other than "high" or "marginal?" I know for me, although I had the support of my parents, there were times in college where I felt like I didn't have enough money to buy decent food, which is an issue that stemmed partially from not making enough money between my two jobs and having too much fear or pride to simply ask for more money and help from my parents.
Those considerations noted, I'm asking you to keep a more open mind for what it means to have "food insecurity." There are so many unique situations that may cause people to be food insecure. Don't think you're not in direct contact with someone who struggles! What I would like for you and for the rest of our society to do is be better! Simply put, let's allow ourselves to be more open and empathetic with each other.
When you observe and think about who could be placed in a position to not be able to feed themselves properly, understand that the stereotypical faces of struggle that come to mind are not the only people having a hard time feeding themselves. Of course there are people who face homelessness, which usually means they're also threatened by lack of food security, but what about other people who, like me, may have secretly struggled and showed no signs of outward hardship? Let's not even take into consideration the number of people who don't feed themselves properly from lack of food education or basic cooking skills. We're talking about people who, despite working their asses off to live a decent life, may still fall just short of having everything taken care of.
The reason why some of us don't recognize those who are struggling is because often we make people feel as though they can't show anything other than perfection or anything other than strength. As with our emotions, situations are ever changing, so at any moment's notice any one of us could be affected by a sudden shift in our lives that changes our ability to "handle" things. We all struggle. No one of us is perfect. And, we all need to be aware that life has its ebbs and flows and that our struggles are not a sign of weakness. If we can all remember that we suffer the same pains, the simple first step of recognizing the many faces of food insecurity will be made possible. From there we can work together to end food insecurity, but the first step is always recognition!
P.S. How was your Thanksgiving?
