Food Stamps

I was reading this article on CCN.com. A CNN reporter, Sean Callebs, lived off of food stamps to understand how that would affect his life. It seems to have been a fairly thought provoking experiment.

This is the link to the article: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/01/30/am.callebs.foodstamps.blog/index.html

Reading his article really makes me appreciate what I have in my life that many people simply cannot afford. The luxuries we take for granted, even something as simple as being able to buy groceries or go to a fast food restaurant, are impossible for many people. There are approximately 31 million people who get food stamps in the country. It's really hard to fathom how people can make it from day to day.

The reporter makes some interesting conclusions on his latest posting from March 1.

"I think the greatest lessons I am going to take away from this project have very little to do with the actual diet. I was amazed at how the social aspect of your life is turned upside down when you can't eat out. Secondly, I constantly found myself doing math, "how much can I spend at this trip?" and "If I eat this for dinner, what will I have tomorrow night?"

It is draining. And, mind you, I only have to fend for myself. I don't have to worry about putting food on a table for an entire family. I took this effort on to try to find out how 31-million Americans live each month. That's the number of people on food stamps."

The fact that his social life is completely different is interesting. As in my earlier post, I talked about how we perceive eating alone. Part of eating out is the social experience, and he was missing out on that interaction. He could, still have social interaction with others by inviting people over to eat, but I think it's the "going out" factor that predominates why people like to eat out. You are removed from your private life -- your dwelling place -- and forced to interact with a myriad of other people in the outside world: you friends/acquaintances you are eating with, the hosts, the waiters, other patrons, and the cooks who are preparing your food inadvertently are affected by you. People and families who cannot eat out are missing out on some social interaction that is necessary and a natural human urge.

There is, however, an upside to having to cook at home and watch what you buy. He was forced to, as he puts it, "get much better acquainted with his kitchen." He developed a sense of pride in what he was cooking food for himself. He also started to notice what he was eating: what was good to buy and what was a waste of his money. His example is choosing to buy ready-made/convenience foods like boxed mashed potatoes instead of fresh fruits and vegetables. He also had to think about price and value, something that many of us do not think about when we shop for groceries.

I think from reading his article, I am learning the deeper impact of a society that has a hard time to provide basic nutrition to people. It seems that there is a deep impact on a person's social and personal lives by having to rely on food stamps. With so many people on food stamps, we should maybe be asking ourselves some tough questions. Why are so many people unable to get something like food without assistance? What do we really value as a society? How can we make a difference?