A Place at the Table Reflection

This movie really opened my eyes at how much food insecurity is an issue. I found it very shocking and surprising that so many people don’t have enough to eat and don’t know when their next meal will be.  I never thought that hunger was such a big problem that many North American families have to deal with food insecurity on a regular basis. I always thought that food insecurity only was something that only homeless people went through, but this movie taught me that food insecurity can be in any family. It reminds me how lucky I am to not have to think about how long it will be until the next time I eat and I need to be thankful for everything I have. I was surprised by the fact that obesity and hunger go hand in hand since if one is relying on processed, cheap, unhealthy foods due to their financial status, they will become obese because that is all there is in their diet. It was surprising that the price of healthy foods went up by 40% and the price of unhealthy foods went down by 40% and that was in 2012, now the prices must have increased even more. In the movie, a group of women went to the government to bring change and stop hunger, but the government barely did anything.  It surprised me because the wealthiest countries in the world still deal with hunger and the government barely does anything to solve it, yet they try to fix other problems of other countries. It was especially heartbreaking to hear from the children and their perspective and how it affects them at school. We sometimes think that these children just don’t want to learn, but we don’t know what type of problems they are dealing with on a regular basis, nor do we know when their last meal was. Everyone has the potential to become something big and so do they.

Through education and by teaching others we can make a difference. People would become more aware of these issues and problems. Children and families need to learn that they need to consume healthier foods compared to cheap alternatives, such as chips. Families need to teach and tell the government that easy access to food is a human right.  If I was a policymaker I would change the school lunch system because they need to be served healthier foods than processed foods, especially at school. I would make sure that more money goes into such programs because after all, they are the future of the country. I would raise the minimum wage so that families are able to feed themselves and their children. I would make sure that rural areas are getting easy access to supermarkets and fresh foods without having to spend so much on gas just to get to a supermarket. The Food Stamps program needs to be changed and elevated. The family assistance program also needs change because in the movie, Barbie was making a couple of dollars over the limit and she was denied government assistance. There are many things that we and the government can do, but it requires only one person to start the change.