How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America.
In honor of Women’s Day yesterday, I dedicate this book review to all moms who have loved and nourished their children in the best way they can, under the circumstances they are enduring.
“Food is foundational. We eat multiple times a day from the day we are born to the day we die. To eat is to live. By extension, to feed others is to provide the means for them to survive and thrive.”
Priya Fielding-Singh is a sociologist who studied how certain life factors impact the ways in which families purchase and consume food. Over time we have heard many explanations as to why certain communities eat the way they do– Everything from food desserts/apartheid, high prices, to lack of education…but the answer isn’t that clear cut. Within two years Fielding-Singh interviewed many parents and kids. She conducted over 200 hours of observations among families and in public schools to truly understand what their lives were like and why they ate the way that they did.
“Rather than trying to make sense of other people from your own perspective and lived experience, you must work to understand their experiences deeply, from their perspectives and experiences.”
A question that I want you to think about is– What determines how you eat? For me, it’s 80% energy and performance driven. The other 20% is honestly, cravings and indulgence. I am grateful to be able to prioritize that way of eating. However, that is not the reality for most people. This book focuses on how families eat and through that lens it captures the larger problem of inequality in America.
Needless to say, for the average family, food decisions are typically left to the mom. How the Other Half Eats sheds light on the societal pressures that come with that job. For example, the contradictory ways in which motherhood is seen when it comes to their children’s diets. While a white mother is deemed cool and fun by giving her kid a bag of chips, a hispanic mother would be labeled irresponsible and a bad influence. In the same manner, we’re fed ideals that white and thin mean healthy and brown and curvy mean unhealthy. Mother’s are constantly trying to battle these stigmas to prove to themselves and others that they are good parents.
There are many misconceptions about the way people eat and why. There’s an idea that low income families don’t care and/or don’t know what’s healthy... but most families generally know what their children should and shouldn’t be eating. Less junk/fast food, more wholesome home cooked meals. Now whether they have the time, energy, or financial means to act on that is a different story. What was interesting to read is that Fielding-Singh observed situations where lack of healthy food wasn’t only about distance and finances. Instead, she discovered many social challenges around feeding.
Fielding-Singh explored and observed many family dynamics which led her to several different conclusions, but one thing that was a consistent pattern was that every mother, rich and poor, was not satisfied with the way their family ate.
Throughout this book Fielding-Singh highlighted 3 specific family types:
High-income household
Middle-level income household
Low-income household
The “organic child” was a product of the high-income household who usually sought the perfect diet for their children. This consisted of little to no processed foods, and if ever, it was usually a healthier alternative such as Annie’s or a knock off brand that marketed healthier ingredients. Rich moms “knew what kids ate could facilitate or impede their success”.
There were two spectrums to middle-class families. On one side, there was the demanding maternal responsibility of having to keep the family nourished because the husband didn’t cook so “if she didn’t do it, no one else would.” On the other side, there was lurking insecurity of financial situations changing dramatically when one parent lost a job, business was slow, or unexpected costs came up…in this case food was often the last thing on parents’ mind.
Children living below the poverty line were usually rewarded with junk food because it was one of the few things their parents could afford. “At least she could afford to get them exactly what they liked.” It was also the case that low-income households didn’t waste their money or stamps on healthy food because it would go bad since no one wanted to eat it.
Are you catching on to any theme? The things you eat can strongly determine your direction in life. My biggest concern around this is that children don’t have the choice to decide so they are growing through the means of their parents. In an environment where resources are scarce and the only option is a highly processed food diet, the chances that one will excel are stacked against them…chronic disease is rampant and mental ability is compromised. “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” How does this quote from the Declaration of Independence measure up to that thought?
“Success is possible only when we consistently and dependably have nutritious food to eat. We deserve to eat and feed our families real food—healthy food—that keeps our bodies fueled and flourishing. We deserve to consume a diet that promotes our health rather than undermines it. But today, far too many Americans are living under circumstances that make getting what they deserve unlikely, if not impossible.”
“A nutritious diet is not a privilege to be bestowed upon a worthy few but a fundamental human right to which every single person— rich or poor, black, brown, or white—is entitled.”
To conclude the book, Fielding Singh addresses the inadequate structure of the food industry and the federal government. She puts fourth great ideas for the future of food such as:
Food-specific policy reforms
Moving initiatives beyond reducing hunger towards improving nutrition
Introduce financial incentives to promote the purchase of nutritious foods
Expand and improve the National School Lunch Program and the School Breakfast Program
Minimizing kids’ exposure to junk food
Structural solutions to aid underlying conditions that leave families in place at or below the poverty line
There is much work to be done, but we must keep making strides towards nutritional equality.