A New Film on Hunger in America and What We Can Do

Still Hungry After All These Years

You feed your kids nutritious meals daily. But did you know that even today, one in four children in the U.S. go hungry? A new film from the presenters of An Inconvenient Truth and Waiting for “Superman” sheds light on our current hunger epidemic and how to end it.

By Barbara Turvett

Barbie, a single mom in Philadelphia, has transitioned from government assistance to a job—but doesn’t earn enough to feed her two kids. Rosie, a fifth grader in Colorado, can’t concentrate in school because she’s hungry. These are two of the nearly 50 million people in this country—including 17 million kids—who don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Their stories of food insecurity and hunger are documented by directors Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush in the poignant, aggravating and ultimately inspiring new documentary, A Place at the Table, which opens in theatres and is available on iTunes and On Demand March 1.

These statistics of hunger in America may come as a shock to many of us. Hunger was all but eradicated in this country in the 1970s by effective policies and programs. But economic problems and government-program cuts during the Reagan administration, along with subsequent lack of government and private attention as the ranks of hungry Americans grew, caused the hunger crisis to come roaring back. In addition, as Barbie puts it: “I feel like America has this huge stigma of how families are supposed to eat together at a table, but they don’t talk about what it takes to get you there. Or what’s there when you’re actually at the table.”

A Place at the Table sheds light on not only the stigma of food insecurity, but also the economic and social implications of hunger in our country and the reasons why so many don’t even have access to healthy food—this in arguably the wealthiest country the world. (Hint: it’s less about food availability and more about poverty.) Through the voices of Witnesses to Hunger like Barbie and Rosie, experts like Marion Nestle (author of Food Politics) and Raj Patel (author of Stuffed and Starved), and advocates like actor Jeff Bridges (founder of End Hunger Network) and chef Tom Colicchio (the film’s executive producer), A Place at the Table examines the problem and presents a solution: shifts in perception about hunger and obesity and creating access to healthy food for all—ideas that both the public and private sector, and all Americans, need to embrace.

“it’s about patriotism really,” says Bridges. “Stand up for your country. How do you envision your country? Do you envision it a country where one in four of the kids are hungry?”

Food for serious thought.

Hunger Facts from A Place at the Table (APATT):

More than 17 million children in America live in households that struggle to put food on the table—that’s one in five kids.

Hunger costs the U.S economy some $167 billion a year in preventable healthcare costs, lost productivity and poor educational outcomes.

9 out of 10 teachers say having a healthy breakfast is key to academic achievement. An adequately funded childhood nutrition bill is an example of a government policy that would help millions of hungry kids.

The key to fixing hunger in the U.S. is citizen engagement, not charity. Via APATT’s social action campaign, you can communicate with our leaders to end hunger with a click, text or tweet.

Text FOOD to 77177

Tweet @placeatthetable or #takeyourplace

Or go to nokidhungry.org to learn more about the solution to ending child hunger in America.

[Photo: From left, Kristi Jacobson, Lori Silverbush, Tom Colicchio, Jeff Bridges and Bill Shore, CEO of Share Our Strength]