New book: Big Hunger

To most Americans, the food bank is revered on both the political left and right for its steady work helping to feed the roughly 40 million people who wonder where their next meal will come from. But longtime anti-hunger activist Andy Fisher tells a different story in his new book Big Hunger: The Unholy Alliance Between Corporate America and Anti-Hunger Groups. Fisher writes that food banks and other anti-hunger organizations (as well as federal programs) are far too cozy with big corporations. He suggests that USDA, anti-hunger organizations, and the food industry comprise an “anti-hunger industrial complex” in which anti-hunger groups lobby for federal nutrition aid that USDA distributes so recipients can buy products the food industry sells  (one-sixth of Kraft’s sales are SNAP-related). Fisher also criticizes food banks for their failure to address the root causes of hunger and to perpetuate the problem through just treating its symptoms.

Source: Citylab, 6/13/17, Inescapable Hunger Cycle