Big hunger The unholy alliance between corporate America and anti-hunger groups

Andy Fisher, 1963-

Book - 2017

Food banks and food pantries have proliferated in response to an economic emergency. The loss of manufacturing jobs combined with the recession of the early 1980s and Reagan administration cutbacks in federal programs led to an explosion in the growth of food charity. This was meant to be a stopgap measure, but the jobs never came back, and the "emergency food system" became an industry. In Big Hunger, Andrew Fisher takes a critical look at the business of hunger and offers a new vision for the anti-hunger movement. From one perspective, anti-hunger leaders have been extraordinarily effective. Food charity is embedded in American civil society, and federal food programs have remained intact while other anti-poverty programs have b...een eliminated or slashed. But anti-hunger advocates are missing an essential element of the problem: economic inequality driven by low wages. Reliant on corporate donations of food and money, anti-hunger organizations have failed to hold business accountable for offshoring jobs, cutting benefits, exploiting workers and rural communities, and resisting wage increases. They have become part of a "hunger industrial complex" that seems as self-perpetuating as the more famous military-industrial complex. Fisher lays out a vision that encompasses a broader definition of hunger characterized by a focus on public health, economic justice, and economic democracy. He points to the work of numerous grassroots organizations that are leading the way in these fields as models for the rest of the anti-hunger sector. It is only through approaches like these that we can hope to end hunger, not just manage it. -- Provided by publisher.

Saved in:

2nd Floor Show me where

363.8/Fisher
0 / 1 copies available
Location Call Number   Status
2nd Floor 363.8/Fisher Due Apr 18, 2024
Subjects
Published
Cambridge, MA : The MIT Press [2017]
Language
English
Main Author
Andy Fisher, 1963- (author)
Physical Description
xvi, 343 pages ; 23 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9780262036085
  • Series Foreword
  • Foreword
  • Acknowledgments
  • Introduction: Lost Opportunities and Collateral Damage
  • 1. Occupy Hunger
  • 2. The Charity Trap
  • 3. The Politics of Corporate Giving
  • 4. SNAP'S identity Crisis
  • 5. Economic Democracy through Federal Food Programs
  • 6. Who's at the Table Shapes What's on the Agenda
  • 7. Innovation within the Anti-Hunger Movement
  • 8. Innovative Models from Outside the Anti-Hunger Field
  • Conclusion: Toward a New Vision for the Anti-Hunger Movement
  • Appendix 1. Primary National Anti-Hunger Groups in the United States
  • Appendix 2. Trends in Prevalence Rates of Food insecurity and Very Low Food Security in U.S. Households, 1995-2015
  • Appendix 3. Index of Acronyms
  • Notes
  • Index
Review by Choice Review

Fisher's book appears at a crucial moment, as President Trump is calling for reductions in foreign aid supporting African agricultural productivity, and is cutting domestic programs such as Meals on Wheels. It discusses efforts to achieve community food security. Its chapter "Occupy Hunger" examines the walk for hunger and other anti-hunger efforts. It clarifies what hunger is and how it has been perpetuated. Responses too focused on symptoms are differentiated from those addressing root causes. Fisher points out that corporation employees on food bank boards oppose such things as public policy advocacy to raise the minimum wage. He suggests how to transform charitable food distribution into a positive force, mitigating its collateral societal damage. He notes that "charity works to the good, but charity is not a substitute for justice." He explains how accepting money from companies like Walmart limits the political action scope of food organizations. An extended discussion of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or "food stamps," is nuanced and useful. Among other topics with extended coverage are economic democracy through federal food programs and innovative models from outside the anti-hunger field that anti-hunger groups can use to remake themselves. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers; upper-division undergraduates through faculty. --Charles Wankel, St. John's University, New York

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.