Describe how food poverty creates hunger and describe its prevalence in the United States.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Hunger has many causes, but in developed countries, the primary cause is food poverty. People are hungry not because there is no food nearby to purchase, but because they lack money. The rate and severity of US poverty Increased over the past decade. An estimated 15 percent of the people in the United States lives in poverty. Even those above the poverty line (about $11,770 per year for an individual) may not have food security. Physical and mental illnesses and disabilities, unemployment, low-paying jobs, unexpected or ongoing medical expenses, and high living expenses threaten financial stability. When money is tight, people must choose between food and life’s other necessities—utilities, housing, and medical care. Food costs are more variable and flexible; people can purchase fewer groceries to lower the monthly food bill, but they usually can’t pay only a portion of the bills for electricity, rent, or medication. Other problems further contribute to food poverty, such as abuse of alcohol and other drugs; lack of awareness of available food assistance programs; and the reluctance of people, particularly the elderly, to accept what they perceive as “welfare” or “charity.”
In the United States, poverty and hunger reach across various segments of society, touching some more than others—notably, single parents living in households with their children, Hispanics and African Americans, and those living in the inner cities. People living in poverty are simply unable to buy sufficient amounts of nourishing foods, even if they are wise shoppers. Consequently, their diets tend to be inadequate. For many of the children in these families, school lunch (and breakfast, where available) may be the only nourishment for the day. Otherwise they go hungry, waiting for an adult to find money for food. Not surprisingly, these children are more likely to have chronic health problems than those who eat regularly. They also tend to perform poorly in school and in social situations. For adults, the risk of developing chronic diseases increases.