Tackling Food Hunger: Research, Realities, and Resilience in Our Community
Understanding Food Hunger and Food Apartheid
What is Food Hunger and Food Apartheid?
Food hunger is the struggle to access enough nutritious food to live a healthy and active life. It affects millions of Americans, disproportionately impacting low-income and marginalized communities. Food hunger and food insecurity are not just about empty stomachs and tiny plates; it’s about the systemic barriers that create cycles of poverty and inequity. One of these barriers includes food apartheid, a term that goes beyond “food desert” to underscore how race, income, politics, and geography intersect to deny specific communities access to fresh, affordable, and culturally relevant foods. The term food apartheid recognizes what the term “food desert” does not—food insecurity is not a coincidental issue. Policies and practices have barred communities’ access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food, creating segregated food systems along socioeconomic and racial lines.
The Root Causes
How have food hunger and food apartheid come to be? Their roots run deep within economic inequity, access, issues, and systemic racism. Poverty often forces families to choose between food and essentials like rent or healthcare. Usually, when families can afford groceries, they are not the healthiest or the most affordable options. Further, many popular retail grocery stores refrain from building locations in low-income areas, adding to the accessibility issues communities, mainly urban and rural areas, face. Moreover, the structural racism implemented in American society caused these communities to suffer. Historical redlining and discriminatory policies have left many neighborhoods underserved by healthy food providers, such as grocery stores and farmers markets.
How is Food Hunger Being Fought?
Community
Local communities and programs are at the heart of addressing food hunger and food apartheid. Grassroots efforts like urban farms, community gardens, and food cooperatives empower residents to grow their own food and provide access to fresh produce. These initiatives provide food and build a sense of ownership and pride in solving local problems and providing for yourself and your community.
Policy & Advocacy
Federal and state programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) significantly reduce food insecurity. Advocacy groups work to expand these programs and address gaps, ensuring they serve the communities and people that need them most. Policymakers are also beginning to address systemic issues, such as redlining and zoning laws that limit grocery store development in underserved communities and subsidies that favor processed foods over fresh produce and healthy foods.
Addressing Food Waste
Food waste is a critical, yet often ignored, part of the hunger equation. An estimated 30–40% of food in the United States is wasted, while millions of people go hungry. Organizations are redirecting surplus food from restaurants, farms, and grocery stores to those in need. For example, Misfits Market is an online grocery home delivery business that sells fresh produce that does not meet retail grocery stores' size or aesthetic standards at a discounted price. Too Good to Go is an app that finds local restaurants and businesses that give out leftover food to prevent food waste.
How Dreaming Out Loud is Tackling Food Hunger and Food Apartheid
Dreaming Out Loud, Inc. (DOL) is leading the fight against food hunger and food apartheid in the DMV area, specifically Washington DC’s Wards 7 and 8, through innovative, community-driven initiatives. Our Farm at Kelly Miller and Farm at Fort Stanton are vibrant hubs for urban agriculture that grow fresh, organic produce for local communities east of the river while providing education and job opportunities. Our WIC Home Food Delivery program also ensures families, birthing parents, and young children receive the nutritious, fresh, and healthy foods they need, delivered straight to their doorsteps.
At DOL, we believe food sovereignty—the right of people to define their food systems—and economic empowerment are crucial to breaking cycles of food insecurity and food apartheid. For example, our DREAM Program includes workforce training in agriculture and food entrepreneurship, creating pathways for economic stability and helping build small businesses, especially with owners of marginalized communities. By empowering communities with resources, tools, and knowledge, we’re instilling communities with resilience that extends beyond food. Together, we’re planting seeds for long-term change.
How Can You Help?
You don’t have to be a policy expert or a farmer to make a difference in the fight against food hunger. There are so many different ways you can help fight food insecurity and food apartheid.
Volunteer: Join DOL at The Farm at Kelly Miller or help distribute fresh food to families in need.
Donate: This Giving Tuesday, December 3, 2024, we aim to raise $10,000 to support our Food is Medicine and WIC Home Delivery programs. Your contributions will support these programs that tackle food hunger and help empower communities.
Advocate: Protesting and contacting local policymakers to support equitable food policies and fight for systemic change are ways you can advocate against food insecurity.
Spread the Word: Share this blog post and DOL’s posts on social media (Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn) to raise awareness about food hunger and food apartheid and our mission on how to tackle it.
“Hunger is not an issue of charity. It is an issue of justice.”
—Jacques Diouf, Former FAO Director-General
Resources
Food Research & Action Center. (2023). Understanding Hunger and Food Insecurity.
Retrieved from https://frac.org
Guthman, J. (2011). Weighing In: Obesity, Food Justice, and the Limits of Capitalism.
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Holt-Giménez, E., & Wang, Y. (2011). Reform or Transformation? The Pivotal Role of
Food Justice in the U.S. Food Movement. Race/Ethnicity: Multidisciplinary Global Contexts, 5(1), 83–102.
Reese, A. (2019). Black Food Geographies: Race, Self-Reliance, and Food Access in
Washington, D.C. UNC Press Books.
Feeding America. (2023). Food Waste and Hunger: A Problem We Can Solve Together.
Retrieved from https://feedingamerica.org
United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). (2023). Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP): History and Impact. Retrieved from https://usda.gov
Chiffoleau, Y., Millet-Amrani, S., & Canard, A. (2016). From Short Food Supply Chains
to Sustainable Agriculture in Urban Food Systems: Food Democracy as a Vector of Transition. Agriculture, 6(4), 57.
Gunders, D. (2017). Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40% of Its Food from Farm
to Fork to Landfill. Natural Resources Defense Council. Retrieved from https://nrdc.org
PolicyLink. (2013). Equitable Development Toolkit: Healthy Food Retail. Retrieved
