Adequate food is a human right!
Today is the 60th birthday of one of my favorite documents: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UN has a special anniversary page up where you can get the DHR in 360 languages to share with your friends.
As a food-writer, I want to point to article 25, which starts:
(1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. (emphasis mine)
Simple stuff on paper, but the reality? Not so much.
Since typing is still hard for me, I'd like you to create your own vision of hunger for me - and share it in comments if you wish. Close your eyes and remember a time when you were really hungry. Not 'nothing since lunch and it's 9pm hungry' but 'it's the 28th and no shopping for 5 days hungry.' What did it feel like: physically, emotionally, socially? Many of us can remember the gnawing of a truly empty stomach; the horrible choice of feeding our kids or ourselves, but not both; or standing in a foodbank line for hours. (Sadly, I can pull all three of these scenarios from memory.)
Imagine that you live with that every day of your life. Hungry. Every. Day.
Now go to Feeding America (Second Harvest) and give generously. Or pack up a bag for your local foodbank. Or take an unemployed friend grocery shopping. Whatever you choose, please do something to help another person achieve the food security we all deserve.
