Public Affairs and Participant Media have worked together on this companion book to the documentary film A Place at the Table. It addresses the nightmarish problem of 60 million people in the United States — including one in four children — who go hungry every day, despite the astonishing fact that the nation has the means to feed nutritious, affordable food to all Americans. It is a crime that kids go to school with empty stomachs and their working parents often have to depend on the kindness of others for meals.
A Place at the Table follows in the spirit of the documentary Food, Inc. which focused on the nation's food system and its impact on our health. Peter Pringle, the author and co-author of books on science and politics, is the editor of this paperback. It contains quotations and commentary from those who appear in the documentary as well as essays by additional experts. There are four thematic sections:
• witnesses to hunger;
• stories about those who provide food for the hungry;
• pieces by widely published anti-hunger activists;
• and a seven-step plan for ending hunger in America by 2015 by The Food Research and Action Center.
Here are the specific recommendations to end hunger:
1. Restore economic growth and create jobs with better wages for low-income workers.
2. Raise the incomes of the lowest-income families.
3. Strengthen the SNAP/Food Stamp Program.
4. Strengthen the child nutrition programs.
5. Engage the entire federal government in ending childhood hunger.
6. Work with states, localities, and nonprofits to expand and improve participation in federal nutrition programs.
7. Make sure all families have convenient access to reasonably priced, healthy food.
This excellent resource ends with a list of national organizations and digital tools that are address with hunger and related issues.
