Omnivore Atlanta

Last week, the United Nations’ Food and Health Organization released a chilling statistic: More than one-sixth of the world’s people will go hungry in 2009. What qualifies one as “going hungry?” Less than than 1,800 calories a day, according to the FHO. The agency attributes the 100 million increase over last year’s figure to the global economic slowdown and consistently high food prices. Called a “silent crisis” by FHO Director-General Jacques Diouf, political instability and lack of infrastructure have compounded food shortages — shifting political boundaries and conflicts such as civil war keep much needed food from reaching people.

Want to help? Consider volunteering here in Atlanta. The Atlanta Community Foodbank accepts individual and group volunteers daily and for special events. Project Open Hand — a service organization that delivers meals to the chronically ill or elderly — needs help preparing and giving out food. The Hands On Atlanta website lists volunteer opportunities by date and interest so you can find a foodie way to be good to Atlanta.

Bookmark to:

I encountered this weird scene on Bell Street during my drive home today. It looks like a bar or an altar to consumer culture, especially bad food, created by homeless people, who regularly sleep under the bridge on Bell Street.

Or maybe it’s a public art installation.

Check out my personal blog for more of my rumination.

(Photo by Cliff Bostock)

Bookmark to:

Un-freaking-believable. The number of people who don’t get enough to eat is on the verge of passing the 1-billion mark:

One billion people will go hungry around the globe next year for the first time in human history, as the international financial crisis deepens, the United Nations has told The Independent on Sunday.

The shocking landmark will be passed – despite a second record worldwide harvest in a row – because people are becoming too destitute to buy the food that is produced.

Bookmark to:

Wednesday will mark the one-month anniversary of FreeRice.com, an online vocab quiz that rewards verbiage with donations of rice to the needy. Every correct answer translates into 10 grains of rice donated to people without enough food. On Monday, 53.8 million grains of rice were donated, and the site brags a total of more than 782 million in its month of operation.

You can advance in “vocab levels” up to 50, and the questions get harder as you do, although the site says few people make it past 48. I’m on 38 right now, and have donated 290 grains of rice, after just discovering it this morning. I haven’t broken out Webster’s yet, but even if you do cheat, you’re still donating rice.

Bookmark to:

Whoa! The New York Times had something good to say about President Bush in an editorial Saturday, Aug. 4 (subscription only). Bush has proposed a more sensible way of providing emergency food aid to the world’s hungry: “Instead of shipping American-grown food abroad, Washington would send American dollars to buy food from local farmers.”

It makes perfect sense to do this but Congress will not cooperate, except perhaps to authorize a small pilot program. The reason? It would mean ending $300 million in farm subsidies. And, of course, that would anger highly subsidized (voting) farmers. The Times goes on to explain why continuing the present policy is dumb:

A recent article by The Times’s Celia Dugger shows why that makes so little sense. Starving Africans in the arid reaches of northwestern Kenya desperately needed food. Kenyan officials did not want surplus American corn because they feared driving down the prices for local farmers. The obvious answer was for the Americans to buy local corn, but American law prevented this. So the corn was never shipped and people continued to go hungry.

The United States is the world’s most generous provider of food aid, amounting to $2 billion annually. But too much of that aid is wasted in overhead, mainly shipping costs. At the other end of the pipeline, subsidized American food can hurt local farmers, while local procurement gives them a commercial outlet. Administration officials also note that food purchased here usually takes four months to reach its destination. Food purchased locally takes days.

The virtues of Mr. Bush’s idea are self-evident. What it needs is full Congressional support, not pilot programs. It would be nice if, for once, America’s farm bloc could think of interests other than its own.

Bookmark to: