Laura Rodriguez
600 Words
The article, "A Decade of Change: Measuring the Extent, Depth and Severity of Food Insecurity," explains how the food insecurity has risen since the Great Recession of 2008 and how it hasn't changed or improved the lives of the needy. This article indicates that a high increase in food insecurity is found in the low-income households of minorities. The escalating unemployment rate and an increase of food prices are some factors leading to food insecurities. The period of the Great Recession greatly impacted the lives of minorities including Hispanics and Blacks and excluded whites.
The data obtained for this article was gathered by the CPS, Current Population Survey. Three different time periods revolving around the recession were used. The years included, 2001-2003, 2006-2008, and 2001-2013. The Food Security Measurement was another method used, it analyzed the severity of the food insecurity using an eighteen-item scale based on whether children lived in the household. The households considered to have a very low food security ranked six or more positive answers. Households would fall under certain categories based on the answers given to the eighteen questions. These measures gave limited results because they were only analyzed from a household perspective and not from an individual's point.
The findings from the methods used indicated that Black households of low income with and without children have the highest disadvantage and that it's worsening. In the last ten years, Whites have had the highest increase across all the measures that were analyzed. Also, there has been an increase among households without children. This is difficult to believe, there are less mouths to feed. On behalf of the latest research, the levels indicate that they haven't returned to post recession figures. There haven't been any improvements.
In the article, "Knowing "Good Food": Immigrant Knowledge and the Racial Politics of Farmworker Food Insecurity," it mentions that immigrants are knowledgeable. They understand how to use their agricultural and nutritional background to their advantage, especially with food insecurities. Others have assumed that people of color don't have a concept about, "good food," more so, food assistance programs because they fall in the low-income category. I believe this is simply discriminatory, to judge others in that sense because of their class.
The research for this article was conducted through an ethnographic study which included working out in the fields with the farmworkers. This was the only way to gather information about their culture, habits, and their knowledge if any about nutritious foods. For the most part, the research was conducted with the use of a garden project called, Oaxacan Children's Garden located in the area of north central coast. The tracking of the workers enabled the researcher to visually observe their knowledge about the land and agriculture work. The farmworkers were given the chance to obtain a piece of land and plant the foods they were familiar with. According to the article they didn't lack an education about eating good foods but did lack financially.
Through the article, it was concluded that during the harvest season the workers were able to cut back or entirely stop relying on government assistance like food banks and or WIC. Most of the garden's participants have previously farmed back in their native land in Mexico and have an expansive understanding for the use of foods and farming systems. The garden was able to help sustain farmworkers and their families but could not be used as a long-term solution to relieve their food insecurity. In conclusion, farmworkers will make the best use of a piece of land because they know how to use these resources and the harvest. To assume that a person classified in the low-income class doesn't have nutritional knowledge is a racial distinction.
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