How the Other Half Eats

How the Other Half Eats

In the dining commons where I have my student job a lot of the
full time classified (non Student) workers are single parents. Toward
the end of a work day that has them on their feet except for short
breaks doing really physically demanding work they are exhausted and
about to return to homes where they handle all the crises large and
small and all the care work including feeding. What's for dinner may
well turn out to be fast food or heat and eat. Many people would
fault them for not cooking from scratch.
Not Priya Fielding-Singh, a researcher who did her PhD and
postdoc at no less than Stanford. In 2013 scholars ascribed
nutritional inequality to people not having enough money and/or access
to stores other than convenience ones for grocery shopping. Priya
thought that was really oversimplifying a complex topic. And, unlike
most of us, she could actually do something about it. She conducted a
research study that involved interviewing 160 parents and children and
doing two hundred hours of observations. Not surprisingly, she
discovered that a myriad of factors entered into the decisions
involved in feeding families.
We're told that "good" parents say no to soda, junk food, and
fast food. The more affluent parents more often made this judgement
call. However, they were also able to say yes to much of what was out
of reach for the working class, often single parent, families: the
newest electronics, summer camp, designer jeans, sports participation,
and pricey destination vacations. So a no is an outlier in a series
of yeses. For the low income parent these modest requests may be all
they can say yes to. And where many of the working poor have to
juggle two or more jobs to cover the basics, spending precious free
hours actively engaged with their children may feel more crucial and
rewarding than cooking from scratch solo.
Lower income families face more insecurity. An abrupt rise in
rent can lead to eviction and at least temporary homelessness.
Families can actually run out of food. Less healthy foods provide
more of the calories needed in times of scarcity.
When my daughter worked at Dress Barn I became aware of another
source of insecurity in many service jobs. She sometimes came to work
only to be sent home because it was a slow day. For a single parent
losing shifts randomly can have a huge impact on the ability to
shelter and feed. Our three children and I are enormously lucky that
Eugene, working for a small family owned construction company in an
industry where slow season layoffs are common, has for over forty
years had a guaranteed forty hour week with time and a half season
overtime in the busy times.
Priya feels that society should stop stigmatizing lower income
families for the food choices they make and start expecting the very
manipulative food industry, the all too stingy government programs,
and society as a whole to take more responsibility:
"In one of the richest countries in the world, one that has more
than enough food to feed every single family and where over half of
produced food is dumped into landfills, this is a disgrace and moral
failing. Every family should be able to comfortably afford and access
the food they need and, in addition, have the time, energy, and
bandwidth to cook and consume it. No family should have to eat as if
they are living through a pandemic that lasts their entire lifetimes..."
Amen to that, Sistah!!!
How the Other Half Eats, with it's beautiful blend of (blessedly
jargonless) scholarship and narrative (You get to know her suject
families intimately), is a rich introduction to the complexities of
and challenges posed by food inequity in America. It's a must read
for anyone who cares about kids, families, and social justice. It's
also a wonderful book club selection.
On a purrrsonal note, as regular readers of this blog know, Eugene and
I have three grown children. When Amber, Katie, and Adam were little
he worked an outside job and I did paper typing and free lance writing
at home. That also left me free to visit a food pantry, obtain clothes
and other necessities cheap at thrift shops and yard sales, trade
volunteering for organic veggies in season at a community garden, help
with homework, and take the kids to all the free and inexpensive
events offered by libraries and other organizations. I took our
children to see their dad at work whenever possible.
One thing we did that was unusual was that although I did the cooking,
he did the shopping. He comparison shopped between stores and clipped
coupons. The kids loved days he brought home the groceries because he
usually had some of their wants in addition to their needs.
When the kids were about 12, 9, and 5 they decided to go vegetarian.
Later I joined them. Eugene, who had been brought up to eat what was
on the table, learned about this lifestyle and adjusted his buying.
Amber now has her PhD in physics. Katie graduated summa and works in
hedge funds. Adam is about to get his degree in engineering with a
job in his field. They are ethical, social activist, and kind people
in wonderful relationships. Between them I have three grand cats.
We have more shout outs than usual going out to:
1) Eugene for being the best dad our kids could possibly have;
2) Priya Fielding-Singh for breaking down the complexities of food
inequity into laypeoples language.
3) Orono Community Garden for providing organic veggies to community
members and volunteer gardeners.
4) Black Bear Exchange, our UMaine on campus food pantry and clothing
exchange.
5) UMaine dining for donating extra foods to Black Bear Exchange and
the volunteers who break the donations down into family serving
packages.
6) Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine for providing resources including
fresh produce to Maine food pantries.
Jules Hathaway and Tobago cat


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