Food Security

Have you ever sat in class before lunch and joked to your friends Starving: When someone
doesn’t have enough food
that you are “starving?” Have you ever opened the fridge and
to stay alive.
complained that there’s “nothing” to eat?
Food insecurity: When
Most students reading this article will never have experienced truly someone does not have
having “nothing to eat.” Unfortunately, there are many people enough food, either to stay
around the world who do not have enough food and are suffering alive or to stay healthy.
from food insecurity. Food insecurity is when someone does not Extreme Poverty: Living on
have enough food to meet their basic needs. A person in extreme less than $2.15 per day
poverty may not be getting enough calories (energy) to survive. A
Famine: Widespread lack
person in relative poverty may have some food but it might not be
of food in an area.
healthy food and they may be malnourished.
Drought: Lack of water in
Food insecurity can arise for many different reasons. People may an area.
live in an area that is suffering from famine or drought and where
there is no food available. War, civil violence and corruption often Civil Violence: Violence
within groups in a country.
cause famine for the most vulnerable and poor people in every Examples: gang wars,
country. Almost 10% of the world is living in extreme poverty, political or religious
which means living on less than $2.15 per day. Poverty, of course, conflicts within a country.
is directly linked to food insecurity.
Corruption: When a
government uses power
You may be surprised to know that people in rich countries can also
unfairly and/or gets rich at
suffer from food insecurity. Almost 15% of Canadians and 10% of the expense of the people.
Americans suffer from food insecurity. Poor people may have
limited or irregular access to food even though they live in rich Relative Poverty: Not
having enough money to
countries. Imagine being in school with no food watching your participate in society. For a
classmates eating healthy, delicious things. This is the reality for family of 2 adults and 2
some students in North America. Poor people in wealthy countries children in Canada, the
poverty line is a yearly
usually have food, but it is often not healthy and they suffer from
income of under $37,542
malnutrition. Poor people have a harder time getting and preparing
healthy food. They may not have access to a full kitchen “Junk Malnourished: Not having
food” is cheaper and easier to Poor people could appear to eat a enough food to meet your
nutritional needs.
fair amount, but the food may be poor quality “junk food.”
Malnutrition can lead to serious health problems. Children living
 with food insecurity face huge disadvantages compared to their
wealthy and well-fed classmates.
Food Insecurity is tragic and also senseless. It is senseless because
we throw away enough food to comfortably feed everyone on the
planet. One-third (1/3) of the world’s food is thrown away. A lot of
food is wasted during harvest and processing and Americans throw
away an average of half a kilogram of food per day, per person! It is
definitely time for us to reorganize the way we produce and
consume food, and to make sure that everyone on the planet has
enough to eat.

1. Explain what food insecurity is in two sentences.

2. What is the difference between extreme poverty and relative poverty?

Extreme poverty is living on less than 2 dollars and 15 cents per day. It is when you don’t have enough
money to cover your basic survival needs.

Relative poverty is relative to the society you live in.

If you are living in Toronto and your salary is less than 20,000 dollars per year, you are poor compared
to most other people. It will hard to meet your basic needs. You can survive but it’s not comfortable.

It’s relative because in a different country, 20,000 dollars a year might be quite comfortable. Like in
Egypt, you can live pretty comfortably on 20,000. You would be middle class.

If you moved to Tokyo or Switzerland, you would be VERY poor on 20,000 a year. It would be almost
impossible to survive comfortably.
 3. Sam is a Grade 3 boy whose mom lost her job and now works at a local fast-food restaurant.
Their total household income is 18,000 dollars per year. Sam’s Mom gets leftover food from
the fast-food restaurant and they eat a lot of ramen noodles, bread and cheap lunch meat.
Sam rarely has fresh vegetables or meat. He has skin problems and often has an upset
stomach.
a. What kind of poverty is Sam and his mom suffering from?

Relative poverty

b. Is Sam malnourished or starving? Explain. He is malnourished. He has food but it’s

not healthy. He has bad skin and stomach problems.

4. What kinds of political and environmental events can cause widespread extreme poverty in a
region? Think of at least 4 types of events.
a. Drought
b. War
c. Civil Violence
a. It could be different political parties or groups that are fighting in a country.
b. Fights between 2 (or more) religions in a country (Ireland, India)
c. Gangs or mafia or drug lords
d. Sometimes outside interference (N & S Korea)
d. Corruption
a. People in the government use taxes, foreign aid, other resources for themselves and
their families. They don’t share.
b. There are cases where UNICEF or Red Cross sends food and money to help poor
people, but the rich people in the country keep the money & food.

5. What percentage of Canadians are food insecure?

a. 15%
 6. Look at the map of Canada (above). DESCRIBE how much food insecurity there is in Canada
and which parts of Canada suffer most from food insecurity. (3-4 sentences).

Quebec suffers the least from food insecurity.

The average, not including Nunavut is about 15%

Nunavut has very high food insecurity. It’s because of the geographic location.

It’s extremely cold. Nunavut is a Northern Inuit community. They have a traditional way of eating and
living that works well. Unfortunately, the Europeans ruined a lot of their hunting and fishing and
upset their lifestyle. THere are not a lot of great job opportunities. It’s a low population.

The food is extremely expensive because it is flown in.

7. Go back to the reading. How much food is thrown away every year?

1/3 of all the food produced in the world is thrown away each year.

8. THINK: How could we eliminate (get rid of) food insecurity around the world?
 Reduce how much you buy and only get what you need. Don’t waste food.
 Change the way we harvest food. Be less wasteful.
 Use the less attractive fruits & vegetables for something else – soup etc.