Food Banks Failing

Addressing Food Insecurity in Canada

Photo by Dan Gold on Unsplash

I woke up this morning to the following headline:

Canadian Food Banks Reduce Services Amid Unprecedented Demand

https://globalnews.ca/news/11751792/canada-food-banks-service-changes/#:~:text=Earlier%20this%20month%2C%20the%20food,current%20twice%2Dmonthly%20pickup%20program.

Some of the organizations providing food to those in need are cutting back on the amount they give out. Others are increasing the time between appointments.

Donations are down. Need is up. Way up.

In a country of 41.5 million people, over 2.2 million find themelves, according to Food Banks Canada, needing help from local food banks.

That’s at least 5% of the population!

In a nation that grows a whole lot of food, that’s a crisis.

Anecdotally, and even in my own life, those who can afford food are making tough choices. Choices they don’t necessarily want to make, more carbs over fresh meat and veggies. Less healthy options. Whatever it takes to keep the belly full.

A lot of lip service has been paid to the issue of hunger. And yes, I’m going there. I’m calling it what it is. Food insecurity sounds less harsh, less immediate. But the problem isn’t. People are hungry, full stop. Not bums, not addicts on the street. Not just them, working people, people with responsible positions, who did all the “right things,” and still don’t have enough to feed themselves. I say that, that way, specifically because I know what some people think.

The food bank system is crumbling under the weight of need.

It’s time to address the root causes of hunger and the structural issues that allow it to persist.

Throwing money at the problem via periodic government cheques doesn’t work. Sure, it makes people happy for a day or two, and they eat for maybe a week. But those free cash giveaways, taken too far, do nothing but increase inflation and make the problem worse in the long run.

Food banks are an amazing community resource, but they’re admitting they can’t meet the overwhelming need.

What can we do? How do we fix it?

Sadly, there are no quick fixes. Much of this is a structural problem in society. Let’s fix the structure.

First, let’s bring back Home Economics courses in schools. Nutrition, cooking, and food preservation; these are valuable skills that can make the difference between hunger and eating. Even in my own life, the ability to blanch and freeze, to pickle and to turn rice, dry beans, and some random spices into a yummy dish has served me well.

No bread? Make it. A quick no-knead, no yeast loaf is super easy, but only if you know how. I was blessed both to have taken Home Ec and also to have had Depression-era parents who taught me valuable skills.

My mother’s words about her own childhood ring in my mind, more relevant today than when she said them to me.

We were poor. It was the Depression, everybody was poor. But Mama always made sure there was plenty to eat.

She raved about her mom’s baked beans and fresh bread. A filling and tasty meal. Hands up if you know how to make it.

You see my point. We have to teach our young people to feed themselves on those days they can’t afford DoorDash or Uber Eats. Come to think of it, maybe we need to teach our adults.

Why don’t we incentivise small-scale farming? I remember as a kid, we’d get free seeds, sunflowers, tomatoes, whatever, and we got all excited to grow something, anything.

I remember the first time I took a bean seed from the classroom Dixie cup, to my home, to the yard and grew actual yellow beans! Mom called them wax beans, and I felt like a 2nd grade hero! I grew food! That evening, we ate my food!

That’s the kind of skill and self-worth that comes as a byproduct of encouraging small-scale farming.

Remember the Victory Gardens during WWII? Why can’t we do that again? Maybe there’s a modern twist. A tax credit for the reduced carbon footprint. Take a pic of the harvest from your backyard, calculate how far you’d have to drive to buy those cucumbers at a major grocery store, and get an instant tax credit or deduction. Bonus points for donation of the excess.

Let’s look at urban and vertical farming. Can you grow 50 lb of potatoes in a tire? Let’s set aside Community Land Trusts, the mechanism exist already.

That’s longer-term stuff. What do we do now? What do we do for people who are hungry now? It’s a real question.

Let’s Glean. I have an app in development called Glean. It allows stores, bakeries, etc., to take a photo of last-life food, still good, but about to be tossed, to alert community orgs. The orgs pick it up, people get fed, the business gets a tax receipt.

It’s a win-win.

The final prong, feed kids. I’m not a socialist. I’m not a communist. I’m a common-sense fiscal conservative with socially liberal leanings who understands that children are our future. That starving 6-year-old, the one everyone has written off, she might just have the cure for cancer in her. Give her that chance.

Each and every elementary and maybe middle school must offer breakfast, maybe lunch. We can do that. Toast, juice…soup and crackers. These kids will be our leaders; they need food for their minds. A hungry child is potential unrealized.

As far as those who continue to struggle, there will always be people in our society who need help. And it’s our duty to help them. That’s the hallmark of a civilized society.

So let’s move forward. Let’s tackle the issue from the roots to the fruit. I’m not degrading food banks. They provide a valuable and vital service. It’s clear, however, that they can’t singlehandedly feed the nation.

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