Hunger in the Land of Plenty : A Critical Look at Food Insecurity

196 Pages·2019·1.289 MB·English

by  James D. Wright, Amy Donley

Hunger in the
Land of Plenty

Hunger
in
Land
the
Plenty
of
A Critical Look at
Food Insecurity
James D. Wright,
Amy Donley, and
Sara Strickhouser Vega
boulder
london
Published in the United States of America in 2019 by
Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.
1800 30th Street, Boulder, Colorado 80301
www.rienner.com
and in the United Kingdom by
Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc.
Gray’s Inn House, 127 Clerkenwell Road, London EC1 5DB
© 2019 by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A Cataloging-in-Publication record for this book
is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-62637-765-3
British Cataloguing in Publication Data
A Cataloguing in Publication record for this book
is available from the British Library.
Printed and bound in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements
of the American National Standard for Permanence of
Paper for Printed Library Materials Z39.48-1992.
5 4 3 2 1
To those who struggle in the face of long odds
to make ends meet, put food on the table, and
keep the wolf away from the door

Contents
List of Tables ix
Acknowledgments xi
1
Food Insecurity in Context 1
2
The Correlates of Food Insecurity 27
3
How Food Insecurity Matters for Mental
and Physical Health 51
4
Are Food Deserts the Source of the Problem? 65
5
Can People Solve Their Own Food Insecurities? 83
6
The Public Policy Connection 105
7
Feeding the World in the Twenty-First Century 131
Appendix: Survey Questions Used by the USDA
to Assess Household Food Security 155
References 159
Index 177
About the Book 183
vii

Tables
1.1 Percentage of US Households by Food-Security
Raw Score, 2013 13
2.1 Food Insecurity and Total Family Income, 2013 28
2.2 Food Insecurity as a Result of Food Deserts,
Mobility Limitations, and Cultural Preferences, 2014 31
2.3 Food-Insecurity Rates by Age, 2013 33
2.4 Food-Insecurity Rates by Marital Status,
Household Composition, and Number of Children, 2013 35
2.5 Food Insecurity and SNAP Participation, 2014 39
2.6 Food Insecurity and Feeding-Program
Participation, 2014 40
2.7 Chronicity of Food Insecurity, 2014 44
2.8 Dietary Insufficiency and Food Security, 2014 45
2.9 Food Insecurity and Weight, 2014 47
ix