Advocates for food justice seek to reverse long-term injustices in our food system. But this isn’t the kind of justice that’s worked out in courtrooms. Rather, it plays out in the court of public opinion.
As Boston University notes, the food justice movement works to ensure universal access to fresh, healthy, affordable, culturally appropriate food for all people while promoting the safety and well-being of farm laborers and others involved in food production.
The food justice movement
A study published in 2023 in the journal Public Health Nutrition explains that the food justice movement aligns with the goals of social justice, demanding recognition of human rights, equal opportunity and fair treatment.
“Our supermarket shelves display an astonishing variety of food options, yet millions of our people are excluded from that abundance. Racial and economic privilege determine what kinds of food are available to us. Food justice advocates refer to this systematic stratification of our food choices as ‘food apartheid’,” the Union of Concerned Scientists bluntly states.
Research shows food injustice prevails as a widespread problem that disproportionately affects Black, Latino and indigenous people in the U.S. Among other obstacles, a lack of adequate transportation and neighborhood grocery stores limits access to healthy, affordable food for consumers from these groups.
Meanwhile, the more than 2 million farm workers in the U.S. also suffer from food injustice.
These workers handpick most fruits and vegetables grown in this country, serving as the backbone of the country’s multibillion-dollar agricultural industry, according to the National Farmer Worker Ministry.
Yet even though they play a vital role in the U.S. food system, farm laborers are among the poorest workers in the country, the ministry says. In addition, they’re routinely subjected to on-the-job hazards such as heat stress, lack of shade, inadequate supplies of drinking water and pesticide exposure.
The ministry points out that “the very people who work to feed the U.S. struggle to feed their own families.”
The relationship between food injustice and food insecurity
One nagging aspect of food injustice — which continues to thrive amid racism, sexism and classism, as the Oregon Food Bank notes — is food insecurity. Food insecurity is a lack of regular access to healthy, affordable food that plagues roughly 44 million Americans. In many cases, food insecurity breeds hunger.
“We know that we cannot end hunger by simply providing emergency food assistance,” the food bank says. “To truly end hunger, we need to dismantle the root causes [of] food insecurity.”
A 2016 article published in the journal Public Health Reports emphasizes that food is a basic human need. Yet in food-insecure households, the need for food competes with the need for other basic necessities like housing, transportation and medication. As households stretch their food budgets, the article says, money becomes a barrier to adopting healthy diets.
How you can promote food justice
So, now that you know the issues swirling around food justice, what can you do to bring about change in our food system? Here are six suggestions:
Support a local food bank
Local food banks distribute food to hungry local residents. If you’d like to help, consider donating time, non-perishable food or money.
Organize a food drive
At your church, your office, your kids’ school or a similar place, arrange a food drive to collect non-perishable foods.
Deliver meals
Around the country, Meals on Wheels and other organizations deliver meals to frail, older and disabled people who deal with mobility issues. These organizations rely on volunteers to deliver these free meals.
Sponsor a family
By sponsoring a family through a nonprofit like Family-to-Family, you can help ensure that their refrigerator and pantry are stocked. You might do this by donating money or sending food boxes.
Donate to a community refrigerator
A community fridge supplies free food to anyone in need “while also cutting food waste and creating a more bonded community,” according to the Green America website. To learn how to donate to or even set up a community fridge, visit freedge.org.
Communicate with policymakers
If local, state or federal officials serving your area are considering measures that would combat food injustice, contact them to express your support. “Community participation … in food justice decision-making is critical for transformative change towards a healthy, sustainable and more just food system,” according to the Public Health Nutrition study.
The post Food Justice: From Farm to Table, Equality Matters first appeared on The Upside by Vitacost.com.