Oct 29, 2019
Hunger is not limited to zip codes or seasons. Food insecurity is a challenge in nearly every country in the world. Every day a family is trying to survive little or no food. According to Food Bullying podcast guest Jennifer Erickson, hunger is not seasonal. We find that food banks receive a lot of donations during the holiday seasons, and in seasons when they need the donations most like summer, very little come in. Jennifer encourages us to try more donations in the summertime.
Jennifer Erickson is a graduate of the University of Georgia in animal science and has worked in the meat and poultry, poultry industry for 16 years, specifically in food safety. For the past four years, Jennifer’s been able to use her knowledge and skills to make a difference in the state of Idaho with the Idaho food bank, where she oversees the food safety programs for all three warehouse distribution centers. She’s a long-time foodie feeding people has always been a passion for her.
Key Points:
- The difficult social problem called hunger
- Food bullying at food banks
- What should we be donating more often, and what should we stop donating?
- Food safety at the Idaho food bank
- How can kids get the food they need?
- How food bullying has affected people coming into the food bank
- Tips on how to stretch the food dollar
The
Conversation:
(00:15): What does hunger look like in different parts of the world?
(02:19): Jennifer’s introduction
(03:10): What does food bullying look like at the food banks?
(03:50): Does food bullying prevent people from asking for help?
(06:25): What should we donate more? What do food banks need?
(08:13): Food safety at food banks
(10:05): Product dating
(12:26): When should we make donations?
(18:31): Feeding kids
(19:51): How food bullying has negatively affected people coming into the food banks
(23:05): Stretching the dollar
(23:28): Tips on how to overcome food bullying
Fabulous Quotes:
- “Focus on feeding your family the right way for you and do not listen to all of the pressures of what people are saying about food.”
- “I always buy what I can afford, buy the best that I can afford, and taking into consideration how I’m stretching that dollar that I’m spending and then everything in moderation.”
- “Hunger is not seasonal.”
- “Product dating is not and has never been intended as an implication for food safety.”
- “Food banks nationwide can always use protein items.”
- “We don’t need to pressure anyone with that kind of messaging behind the food that is in its basic form a healthy and wholesome product.”
- “Marketing labels can create a lot of doubt.”
Links:
- Feeding America
- Jennifer’s Email: JErickson@idahofoodbank.org
- Food Bullying: How to Avoid Buying BS by Michele Payn
- Embrace your Heart with Eliz Greene