Food Security

State by state food insecurity

Why is it so high in states with moderate climates and long growing seasons?

Statistics on Hunger in the US

for 2008 were published last week.

In 2007 88.9% of households in the US were food secure - that is, they didn't worry that they were running out of food before they could afford to buy more, eat unbalanced meals because of a lack of food and the money to buy more, or skip meals because of a lack of food.

In 2008 it was 85.4% of households which could claim food security, with increasing food insecurity in middle income households.

Food insecurity among households with children is higher that the general numbers, particularly for single parent households. It was before the bottom fell out, and it probably will be if and when there is a recovery.

Good News for women, children and maybe food deserts

Somewhere in my travels last week, I heard on NPR's Marketplace about how the changes in WIC allowed foods were affecting small retailers. It's now possible to buy many more things with WIC coupons, including fresh fruits and vegetables - not just canned and juiced - and soy products. The theory is that this may cause small retailers in some neighborhoods, where access to food shopping is limited and where poor young women shop, to stock more of these things. Imagine. Tofu at the 7-11.

But looking through the new food lists and the related FAQs, here's what I think:
Any young woman who can care for children and navigate the details of these guidelines (like why you can't buy canned black eyed peas with your veg coupons, but you can buy frozen - or why only GMO soybean derived soy milks are on the list, but you can get McCann's steel cut irish oats - or why you can pay extra if your fresh fruit goes over the dollar value, but if your pound of bulk oats or lentils turns out to weigh 18 oz. the clerk has to dump out the extra - and on and on and on) should be given a college degree.

Gone in 23 seconds

That's how quickly pigs with a little experience located food whose image they could see in a mirror.

Recent studies in pig genetics and cognition are summarized in this recent article from the NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/science/10angier.html

a bummer of a news day

I didn't take an audio book in the car with me today for a trip to CDSP. Mistake. I got so bogged down listening to news that glorifies war and violence. Wasn't the original November 11 celebration a celebration of peace?

To top it all off, this item caught my attention:

The nominee for the head of US AID, Rajiv Shah, M.D., is a former Gates Foundation employee and skilled at "building public-private partnerships with major technology development firms" - like - you guessed it - ta da - Monsanto.

Obama's appointments make the White House vegetable garden look like the worst kind of gratuitous gesture.

See Shah's resume here: http://www.politico.com/static/PPM138_091110_shah.html

The True Cost of Shrimp

Great information on "The Perils of Overfishing" from Fresh Air.

Part I:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120013107

Part II:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120049590

Daniel Pauly from UBC tells it like it is: grim.

Listening reminded me that Sylvia Earle was on the Colbert Report a few weeks back and kept repeating her mantra of tilapia, catfish, carp. Darn - I wish I found farmed freshwater bottom feeders tasty.
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/252641/october-13-2009/sylvia-earle
The neon aquarium in the background is a particularly nice touch.