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?

Eating Alone

I have known quite a few people who hate to eat alone. They will call anyone, just so that they can have a companion while they are eating. I've gone with people to grab a bit to eat, even though I didn't order anything, and I have also called people just to have someone to go with when I eat somewhere. The more I think about it, it's interesting how we perceive eating alone versus eating with others.

If I see a person eating alone at a restaurant, I think of a few reasons why he or she is eating alone. The first scenario is that he or she is a complete loner who doesn't care about a social life or friends. Strangely, I know some people who are loners. I know a guy who mostly stays in his room, chatting with online friends or watching Youtube videos. But, strangely and mind bogglingly enough, he doesn't like to eat alone. He still searches for someone to sit down and have a meal with. Interesting, huh?

A second scenario I run through my head is that he or she just didn't have time or the resources to eat with anyone like not having a cell phone or having a busy work schedule. That kind of person probably doesn't want to eat alone, but alas, they had no choice. I think I fit into this category quite well. I would love to invite friends over for breakfast, lunch and dinner all the time, but sadly time is usually not on my side. I usually have back-to-back commitments that pull me here and there. Sorry friends.

When I see that person eating alone, I think all of us, even if you don't want to admit it, have some kind of reaction. I have been criticized for eating alone because I probably looked like a loser. Another friend says it's sad to eat alone, and I would tend to agree. But why do we have an urge to eat together? Friends and colleagues go out for lunch all the time. Families go to "family restaurants" to eat together. Eating meals together, as a family, is a cherished cultural institution. There is a whole ad campaign linking eating meals together with family unity, mutual understanding, and even reduction in drug usage rates amongst teenagers. Eating together carries a lot of positive connotations and values, while eating alone seems to carry some semi-negative ones.

Why do we want to eat together, instead of alone? Psychologically, how does it affect us to eat alone versus with others? Sociologically, what do our values say about eating alone versus eating with others?

One possibility may be a combination of all kinds of factors -- psychological and sociological and biological -- that contributes to our desire to eat together. Thinking back through history, all the way back to the Pleistocene -- the era of ice ages, mega fauna, and early man -- one of our earliest conceptions of cavemen is a huddled group of people, sharing a fresh kill around a roaring fire. Since then, I theorize, people have probably carried that kind of eat as a group mentality. For early man, it was survival instinct: strength in numbers, hunting game together, and sharing the kill. For modern man, we don't really struggle to survive for our basic needs, but that urge to eat together has stuck with us. Perhaps the fight for survival was so intense, so deeply etched in the psyche of our species, that eating together is just something that is going to stick with us as long as we live. Psychologically, it gave our ancestors a sense of peace, perhaps even joy to know that others are suffering the same kinds of troubles and tribulations. Sociologically, eating together probably advanced social interaction, forming the early foundations of our now complex cultures, languages, governments, and technologies.

So, next time we see someone eating alone, maybe we shouldn't take it so lightly. Eating with others has been with us for many millenniums, and will no doubt remain a part of our species, until we are either no longer alive or no longer human.