Food Banks and Charity as a False Response to Hunger in the Wealthy but Unequal Countries

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the food injustices and inequalities felt by too many in the so-called ‚Global North‘, particularly those in marginalized communities – Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC).

In response, governments and the private sector have increased emergency food aid initiatives, but they have not addressed the true causes of food insecurity. Nor have they followed the lead of those experiencing food insecurity and poverty, or those communities organizing and working reciprocally to produce and distribute food sustainably.

Today‘s persistent and climbing rate of food insecurity is a foreseeable by-product of systems that rely on low-road capitalism‘ and corporate culture, systems that have a disproportionately negative impact on marginalized communities. Moving forward, countries in the ‚Global North‘ (such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom), can continue to go down the same path that led us here, or they can realize and embrace a different path.

The opportunity in this new path is to rebuild a more equitable society and to recognize that emergency food aid is not the solution to the structural and systemic issues that are the underlying causes of food insecurity.