Today’s generation does not appreciate the true meaning and value of the ability to have dinner every night. According to the film A Place at The Table, 1 out of every 6 Americans are food insecure, meaning they do not know when their next meal will be. The film traces families struggling to survive and feed their family while living in food deserts. Viewing this was not only eye opening to me, but shocking. Prior to this film, my research, and my studies in school I was completely clueless about the current state of our nation regarding food and hunger in America.

This problem stems from our American history, dating all the way back to the Great Depression’s emergency programs. Through these programs, the USDA farm subsidies made it profitable for food industries to produce processed foods. There were no subsidies placed on fruits and vegetables, but instead corn, which is the basis of all processed foods. This not only made processed foods easily attainable to the general public, but it made them inexpensive compared to healthier, organic foods. Since then, the price of fruits and vegetables has gone up, and at the same rate, the price of processed food has gone down.

This information actually made our class tour of Port Richmond more interesting and beneficial to my studies especially when I learned that the empty lot we passed, was the location of a burned down super market that is not being rebuilt. This sparked my memory of the film and Rosie and Barbie’s families which made me realize the great struggle they would be facing if their nearest super market, (which isn’t even in close proximity to their homes in the first place!) burned down and was not being rebuilt. This also made me realize the great potential the addition of a super market to food desert would be to rebuilding the community and potentially decreasing the hunger faced by many Americans today.