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Summer 2015

Volume 20

Number 3

Debbie Grunbaum

As summer has unofficially come to an end here in New York, we look forward to a new school year, the promise of a fall breeze and the bounty of harvest. In the months that follow, our country will have a renewed interest in the issue of hunger as the “holiday season” reminds us all of the realities of hunger and poverty in our neighborhoods and across the seas.

What better time of year to explore the intersections between hunger and health, than this moment of heightened awareness. Because the two are so deeply intertwined and connected, we often ask how folks who care about solving hunger can do so without also caring about supporting health at the same time. Read on to learn how the community-based solutions that start at the intersection of hunger and health, from school food to medicine and more, are truly building the movement for food justice

Alison Meares Cohen

As a child I remember being particularly captivated by the way in which light refracted through glass and created dancing rainbows on the wall. I first remember being impressed by this phenomenon sitting in my grandmother’s kitchen where the many different light catchers she collected were arranged on the window overlooking the cow pasture below. Depending on the time of day, the light cast on the wall would take on a pink glow, or appear in shades of yellow. Sometimes it would splash across the ceiling in long stripes; other times it would appear as single colored dot on the wall. When it was raining out, there would be no light show at all. I remember being perplexed by why the light passing through the same piece of glass would show me different things at different times. In my toddler’s mind, it was magic. As I became school age, I would learn about the scientific principles of white light passing through prisms. Eventually the prism concept would take on more of a figurative role for me in the way that I would come to acknowledge the complexities of our world as I considered ideas and actions from different perspectives or vantage points.

Looking at the world from different angles makes life both richer and more complex. Yet, our tendencies as human beings is to reduce those complexities – especially the problems and challenges -- into their individual parts. And examining just one of those parts creates an opportunity for greater focus, encourages expertise and a clear path forward. We take up the magnifying glass and put aside the prism. We’re now seeing one dimension instead of the full depth. We become methodical and efficient and our metrics and barometers carefully calibrated.

David Hanson

Community Servings (CS) has humble beginnings as a Jewish outreach organization responding to AIDS in the late '80s. To this day, but especially early during the AIDS epidemic, malnutrition was a major cause of death. The simple act of feeding people properly who were diagnosed HIV+ could keep them alive. Food was a viable form of medicine. Community Servings has evolved to develop more diverse eligibility criteria, drawing clients from over 200 referral partners. It now provides medically tailored meal services to homebound families and individuals with acute life-threatening illness. Roughly 1000 individuals receive packages of five meals per week. It's not just any healthy food. Community Servings has learned the importance of preparing beautiful, colorful, fragrant food that appeals to people who lack an appetite due to chronic illness.

Crafting such a complex menu falls on the shoulders of Chef Kevin Conner. Conner has almost two decades of experience in kitchens, including as a culinary arts professor and executive chef at the Federal Reserve. When Connor was 16 he lost his mother to diabetes so he knows how food can help and harm a body. "With this job, the people don't just come into the restaurant, eat the meal, then forget about it." Connor says. "The five meals we're delivering weekly touch their hearts and souls. We try to give the clients comfortable, familiar meals. We're always adapting the menu. For instance, we might make a meatloaf, but we have to be careful with ketchup (sugar) for diabetics so we come up with recipes for a tasty, ketchup-free meatloaf."

Debbie Grunbaum

From WhyHunger’s Food Justice Voices series, “Social Justice for Lunch: Delta Fresh Foods Initiative at the National Farm to Cafeteria Conference” explores the work of the Delta Fresh Foods Initiative (DFFI) to transform the food system in the Mississippi Delta region into one that is more equitable and just for all. Social Justice for Lunch gives insight into an equity-based approach to address the lack of access to nutritious food and the direct connection to decades of persistent poverty and oppression. DFFI was created from the ground up by organizers who recognized the importance of having a justice lens on their work and the necessity to include marginalized voices at the table. Together they chose to use Farm to School projects to strengthen the local food economy, promote healthy lifestyles and build social equity for Delta residents.

“With limited staff and a large chunk of geography to impact, we chose school, community and church gardens as a focus for projects to build the supply and demand in communities.” –Judy Belue, Director DFFI