Zeroing in on Hunger

Recently, I was reminded that "You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs." While I recognized this idiom as an attempt to put an end to my people-pleasing tendencies, what I really wanted to retort was, "Well, it would be nice to have been given some eggs to begin with!" as in "How can you expect me to make something out of nothing?!"

                         

I imagine that this is how food insecurity must feel at times. Literally and figuratively. 

Last fall, I volunteered at a local elementary school, teaching a group of 5th graders how to prepare simple, yet nutritious meals on a shoestring budget. Without explicitly letting on that I was aware that most, if not all of these students received free or reduced-price lunches, I taught them how to scour the supermarket for the healthiest (and tastiest) ingredients. Despite my efforts, I couldn't shake the mental image of one of my students skipping home, our most recent recipe in hand and a smile on his or her face with the hope that they could recreate it in their own kitchen. Their parent would then scan over the page and without missing a beat think to themselves, "Butternut squash macaroni and cheese would be nice if a squash didn't cost as much as a dozen apples." 

This Friday, I will be covering the Ending Hunger segment of this year's Committee on Teaching About the United Nations (CTAUN) conference. The panel is impressive to say the least, backgrounds ranging from UN-led initiatives to the United States' largest food co-op in Burlington, Vermont. The question on the forefront of my mind will be the following: 

How can we expect them, the food insecure, to make omelettes without eggs? or 
How can we sustainably support communities that have little to work with in terms of naturally-occurring resources?

I anticipate that an emphasis will be made on social equity, but I wonder how that will translate in practice. As a somewhat tech-savvy college student, I came across the YouTube channel for the Zero Hunger Challenge, launched in 2012 by Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon with the goal of stamping out hunger...forever. Their Senior Liaison Officer, Martin Gallagher, will be serving on the Ending Hunger panel on Friday, but I encourage any interested readers to get a head start on the discussion with this short, informative video.