The National Geographic has photos from Houston, the Bronx and Osage, Iowa, to illustrate its story on “The new face of hunger.” Writes Tracie McMillan, “The image of hunger in America today differs markedly from Depression-era images of the gaunt-faced unemployed scavenging for food on urban streets…In the United States more than half of hungry households are white, and two-thirds of those with children have at least one working adult—typically in a full-time job.” A sociologist blames inadequate wages.
One in six Americans “reports running out of food at least once a year. In many European countries, by contrast, the number is closer to one in 20,” writes McMillan. Says the mother of one family perennially on the edge of running out of food, “We’re not starved around here. But some days, we do go a little hungry.”