Politics, Policy, Research And Racism: This Week's Food Conversation Is A Master Class
On February 7, 2018, the L.A.Times published an Op-ed by a doctoral candidate entitled "Why do poor Americans eat so unhealthfully? Because junk food Is the only indulgence they can afford." There are SO many dog whistles in this article -- I started to put pen to paper on the harm that this type of work has done/can do. As I was musing, stories started breaking regarding 45's proposal in his 2019 budget for "America's Harvest Box." - a program to give poor people a box of ( “shelf stable,” i.e., canned and/or processed) food in lieu of a part of their SNAP benefits. And there you have it. When a society is built on the myth/concept that poor people or Black people or Indigenous people, or any marginalized people are of lesser value than others, institutions governed by those who benefit from this inequality will perpetuate those myths/concepts that maintain the inequity that keeps a few empowered and many marginalized. How are these con