When we talk about food in developing countries, a lot of people think the focus is about poverty — that’s not what my focus is. Food represents both culture and survival; we build community when we break bread together. So it’s a natural fit to learn and build community around a meal and this goes much further than Mali, Africa where my training center is; it can be right next door. Part of my effort here is to educate people on what living on $7 per day looks like, by giving them an opportunity to make meals and share them with me. If you’re close to my Edmonds rooftop you can sign up to bring me a meal–the information is below. If you’re a distance away–you can follow what’s happening on my blog as I share my experiences.
To Sign Up:
- Pick a date between August 1 – 31
- Pick a meal, either lunch or dinner
- Confirm with Ari at arielmacpherson@gmail.com
Prepare the meal:
Gather family, friends and/or neighbors and prepare a meal from a developing country of your choice. Set aside a portion to bring and remember, my portion can’t cost more than $3! I’ll want to know about your experience researching and preparing the meal so be sure to share that with me via email: c.schillios@verizon.net.
Dine together
The Rose House has offered their kitchen if you and your family or group want to prepare a meal and eat together at the Rose House. Contact Ari to reserve the Rose House for your developing country meal.
Deliver: the meal to 523 Main and I’ll haul it up to the roof in the basket!
- Serve Lunch between 12-1PM
- Serve Dinner between 6-8PM
Guidelines:
- Carol has water
- Please bring food on environmentally disposable plates
- Make proteins from things other than red meat
Hi, I'm Carol. I'm living in a tent on the roof until 1 million people each donate $1 to the Fabric of Life Foundation and share how they are making a difference in their world.
August 3rd, 2009 at 4:33 am
You are simply THE BEST! What you are doing is really inspiring, and makes me realize how little it takes to make a small difference. And those differences add up! Count me in all the way!
November 27th, 2009 at 3:22 am
From The GiveWell Blog: http://blog.givewell.net/?p=471
Exploring how to get real change for your dollar.
November 26th 2009
Hunger here vs. hunger there
By Holden
There has been a fair amount of buzz lately (examples here, here, here, here) about “food insecurity” in the U.S. According to the Reuters headline, one in seven Americans is short of food. In looking into the data, what has surprised us is how different the meaning of “hunger” is when we’re talking about the U.S. vs. the developing world.
Developing-world hunger: 30% of children underweight
Developing-world hunger is usually discussed in terms of incredibly severe indicators of hunger. For example, a 2008 Lancet study estimates that
32% of under-5 children in developing countries are “stunted” (height-for-age severely below normal, such that only 2.3% of children should be “stunted” in a normal distribution)
20% are “underweight” (weight-for-age severely below normal, such that only 2.3% of children should be “underweight” in a normal distribution)
3.5% are “wasted” (weight-for-age even more severely below normal, such that only 0.13% of children should be “wasted” in a normal distribution).
These are indicators of severe, long-term consequences of constant undernutrition for young children.
Food insecurity in the U.S. means anything other than complete and constant food security
The recent USDA release that has formed the basis of the recent discussion of U.S. hunger states:
Eighty-five percent of American households were food secure throughout the entire year in 2008, meaning that they had access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members. The remaining households (14.6 percent) were food insecure at least some time during the year, including 5.7 percent with very low food security—meaning that the food intake of one or more household members was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food. (Emphasis mine)
The report’s summary specifies that food insecurity is usually temporary as opposed to chronic (pg 9) and that children are usually protected from food insecurity even in food-insecure households (pg 6-7).
The “food insecurity” categories are derived from people’s answers to questions like “We worried about whether our food would run out before we got money to buy more” and “We couldn’t afford to eat balanced meals” (full list on pg 3). The details of the answers are found on page 45:
These data imply that anything approaching the sort of hunger measured in the developing world is practically nonexistent in the U.S.
Note in particular the difference regarding children. In the developing world, as shown above, severe child hunger is rampant. In the U.S., even in “food insecure” families, it’s extraordinarily rare for children to go hungry even temporarily. And indeed, World Bank data estimates that 1.3% of U.S. children under 5 are “underweight” – less than the 2.3% that would be expected in a fully normal distribution.
Also note that the USDA report estimates costs for different levels of “food plans” (pg 55), and that its “Thrifty” plan – the cheapest – ranges from $21-$40 per week ($3-$6 per day) depending on age. In the developing world, meanwhile, over 2.5 billion people are estimated to live on less than US$2 a day total.
Bottom line
We have no intention of trivializing the situation of those in poverty in the U.S. But for a donor making choices, it can be stunning to see what a different meaning “hunger” takes on when applied at home vs. abroad. Do you value the lives of Americans so much more that you’d rather help people with the second kind of hunger than people with the first?