A Place at the Table

I recently saw “A Place at the Table,” a documentary about hunger in the United States. The film is an eye-opener into the pervasiveness of hunger. Nearly 49 million people in this country—one in four children—are food insecure, meaning they don’t know where their next meal is coming from. “A Place at the Table” attempts to put a face on the issue by introducing us to several people including Barbie, a Philadelphia single mother who struggles with poverty and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (also known as SNAP, or food stamps) and Rosie, a fifth grader from Colorado whose parents work three jobs between them, providing too much income to qualify for assistance but not enough to buy food every day.

One of the film’s contentions is that hunger and obesity are neighbors—stemming from insufficient ways for low-income populations to access food they need to stay healthy. Barbie must travel an hour on two buses to a supermarket to buy fresh food; often she resorts to shopping in neighborhood bodegas where processed foods are available and affordable. Rosie’s family is helped by donations from community food banks—which mostly consist of processed, high-sugar, high-fat packaged snacks.

“A Place at the Table” stresses that high-calorie foods are often the least expensive. In it, Marion Nestle, professor of food studies at New York University and author of Food Politics, notes that the price of fruits and vegetable has increased about 40 percent since 1980 while the price of processed food has decreased 40 percent. The film touches on factors such as hefty subsidies to industrial farms that grow corn, soy and wheat, crops that are largely used in processed foods.

Farm subsidies are just one of many complicated subjects referenced as part of the hunger problem: others include government allotments per person/per meal, school meal programs, healthcare costs and social stigmas.

Where “A Place at the Table” most succeeds is in moving us beyond the notion that hunger equates to images we’ve seen of famine and starvation in other parts of the world and showinghow widespread a problem is here, posing troubling social and cultural implications. Throughout, we’re shown the impact hunger has on children especially, derailing health, development and academic performance—in short, amounting to untold lost potential among the people who represent the future of our country.  

Effecting change on such an enormous issue is overwhelming, but small steps in food and nutrition education can add up. (The film features one moving scene of students around eight years old encouraged by their teacher to taste honeydew melon for the first time.) Some good news is the specialty food trade already boasts a notable track record in getting involved in these issues in their communities from chefs improving school lunch programs, to retailers holding in-store cooking classes, to producers arranging tours of farms to demonstrate where food comes from. These are areas where we can continue to donate time, effort and funds and work toward making a bigger impact.

Tween-age Chef Committed to Getting Kids Cooking

I am in awe of a 12 year old. Last week Haile Thomas appeared on Today to share her commitment to helping kids make better food choices. In her segment with Al Roker, Haile, who has been cooking since age five in her mother's kitchen, prepared a black bean and corn quinoa salad with garlic shrimp and avocado, the same recipe she recently prepared for First Lady Michelle Obama as part of the first Kids’ State Dinner.

Intrigued by watching food documentaries, Haile "started asking questions about where my food comes from and what I was eating," she told Today. She signed up for the youth advisory board of the Alliance for a Healthier Generation, an organization that tries to combat childhood obesity, and soon started working with local chefs doing cooking demonstrations. Haile now hosts her own online show, “Kids Can Cook,” where she offers online kids cooking classes on how to prepare nourishing meals from with simple ingredients.

In addition she's partnering with Hyatt Hotels & Resorts to help the chain come up with healthier kid-friendly menu items. The Tucson native is the founder and director of the Tucson-based HAPPY Organization, Inc., which serves to improve the health and wellness of Arizona youth and families.

Amid alarming statistics about rampant childhood obesity and lack of cooking skills among young people, Haile is setting an inspiring example by showing peers that preparing good food does not have to be complicated. It all comes down to healthful ingredients, simply prepared. “I hope to make a difference by inspiring other kids to embrace a healthy lifestyle, and become educated about how good and bad food affects their bodies, overall health and quality of life,” Haile said.