Hiding hunger: food insecurity in middle America

There's probably never going to be the awareness out there and the general acceptance that people at all income levels struggle with food….It's a double standard based on income, you make a lot of money, so you can't be hungry. Respondent #1

Abstract

This is a community based research project using a case study of 20 people living in middle America who are food insecure, but do not use food pantries. The participants’ rate of actual hunger is twice that of food insecure community members who use food pantries. Since most of the participants are not poor, the Asset Vulnerability Framework (AVF) is used to classify causes of food insecurity. The purpose of the study is to identify why participants are food insecure and why they do not use food pantries. Findings reveal that the participants restrict the quality and quantity of food eaten as a strategy to manage their budget. Following AVF, this strategy allows them to offset lower returns to labor assets, cover rising costs of human capital investment, protect their two most important productive assets of housing and transportation, and compensate for household relationships that increase their vulnerability. In addition, food insecurity itself inhibited social capital formation, further increasing vulnerability. The main reasons the participants do not use food pantries is to protect their social capital assets: almost all of the participants hid their hunger from colleagues, friends, relatives, and even the people they lived with. The participants described fear of societal shaming and blaming as motivations for hiding their hunger. However, using food pantries could reduce their food insecurity. Therefore, there was a feedback loop between food insecurity and social capital: food insecurity reduced social capital and efforts to protect social capital prevented participants from improving food security by using food pantries.

Appendices

Appendix 1 Interview question guide

• 1. Tell me about a typical dinner, you can use last night if that was typical.

  Potential follow-up questions: What did you eat? Who prepared it? Where was it prepared? Who did you eat with?

• 2. Tell me about where you get food from.

  Potential follow-up questions: How often do you shop? Where do you shop? What kinds of things do you buy?

• 3. Are there things you are unable to get that you would like to eat? If so, what are they?

  Potential follow up questions: Why are you unable to get them? What would help you get the food you would like?

• 4. Tell me about an experience you had in the last 12 months when you either worried you would run of food or ran out of food.

  Potential follow-up questions: What did you do? What could have prevented it?

• 5. Why do you think people go to food pantries?

  Potential follow-up questions: who are they, what are they like, why do they go?

• 6. Tell me about people you know who go to food pantries.

  Potential follow up questions: Who are they, what are they like, why do they go? What do they tell you about food pantries?

• 7. Why do you think people don’t go to food pantries?

• 8. What would cause you to go to a food pantry? What would keep you from going to a food pantry?

Appendix 2 Summary of participant characteristics

• 1. White male, professional, works full-time, married

• 2. White female, professional, works full-time

• 3. White female professional, single, works full-time, had been unemployed, disabled, large medical bills

• 4. White female professional, single, unemployed, disabled, gluten-intolerant, large medical bills

• 5. White female undergraduate, had been unemployed

• 6. White male undergraduate, has two part-time jobs, donates plasma, dumpster dives, health problems

• 7. White female undergraduate, gluten intolerant, health problems, large healthcare bills

• 8. White male student taking classes to prepare for graduate school, two part-time jobs

• 9. Hispanic female graduate student, has assistantship, works 20–25 h a week

• 10. White male graduate student, no assistantship, works at restaurant, takes food home

• 11. White female undergraduate, works part-time, mother is dead, sends money to her father

• 12. White male, works full-time, supports partner and child

• 13. White female lives with 19-year-old son, she is on disability, he is unemployed

• 14. Hispanic female, professional, works full-time, single

• 15. White male, 60, unemployed construction worker, homeless

• 16. White female, unemployed.

• 17. White/African-American female, works full-time, was unemployed and disabled, large medical bills, lives with room-mates

• 18. White female, 29, vegetarian, gluten intolerant, works full-time, injured at work was disabled, unpaid leave, large medical bills, lives with boyfriend

• 19. White female, lives with wife and 15-year-old son, professional, works full-time, professional, wife was unemployed

• 20. White female, 26, lives with boyfriend and mother-in-law, took time off work to care for mother-in-law, works full-time, professional