Hunger is NOT a game!

by Vernita Kennen

The release of the most recent of the "Hunger Games" movies has once again brought the word hunger into peoples' minds. But I sometimes wonder if they give it more than a passing consideration in the name of entertainment. A recent blog from the ELCA World Hunger program makes for thoughtful pondering for all of us who have read "The Hunger Games" series or seen the movies. Do read the full post and begin pondering.

 

"The food gap in the United States may not look the same as that portrayed in the Hunger Games, yet food is nonetheless becoming an increasingly prominent marker of social class. In the United States the food gap reveals itself more in the type of food consumed. The well-off continually seek out healthier, fancier, more ethically produced foods. Those struggling financially often have little access to choices other than the empty calories of inexpensive, processed foods. In September of this year, the Harvard School of Public Health released a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association Internal Medicine tracking the eating habits of just under 30,000 Americans between 1999 and 2010. The study revealed that over the last decade 'diet quality has improved among people of high socioeconomic status but deteriorated among those at the other end of the spectrum.'"

Read the full article, "Playing the 'Hunger Game' in the United States: When the odds are NOT in your favor" by Gina Tonn at the ELCA World Hunger Blog.