The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines “food insecurity” as a lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life. It is important to know that though hunger and food insecurity are closely related, they actually are not the same.
Hunger refers to a personal, physical sensation of discomfort, while food insecurity refers to the lack of available financial resources for food at the household level.
In a food insecure household, family members are faced with the tough choices of having to pay for food or other necessities such as rent, utilities, medicine or school tuition. These household members often skip meals, eat less than they feel they should or buy inexpensive food that has no nutritional value, in order to avoid being hungry.
As you introduce the concepts of hunger and food insecurity, you may want to start with this video. Created for the Albertsons Companies Foundation’s Nourishing Neighbors initiative, this video provides a comprehensive overview about hunger and food insecurity that compels students to care and want to know more.
We are here to support your efforts as you work through the Explore.Act.Tell. lessons, project and PSA video. It all begins with EXPLORE. We look forward to seeing what your students will do!