Photo from AlternativasCC.org
Photo from Urban Gleaners.org
A few weeks ago I encountered Javier Thellaeche at a Friends of Family Farmers InFarm event. He was here on a mission for his organization “Alternativas” to find out what America’s cities were doing about food insecurity. We had a good chat and discussed the hunger situation in each of our countries. As we are all aware America has an obesity epidemic, which is often linked to poverty due to the low cost of highly processed foods full of salt, fat, and sugar. In Bolivia, Javier tells me, there is a rising problem similar to the U.S. in certain areas, but mostly the concern is malnutrition due to lack of enough food and limited diets. According to “Alternativas“, 60% of Bolivians live on less than two dollars a day and spend up to 80% of their household income on food. This situation makes them extremely vulnerable to even slight fluctuations in food prices. In America, our food insecurity issue revolves more around gaps in assistance and access to resources. These sound like two very different food security problems, but as we spoke it became clear that “Alternativas” approach to tackling food insecurity in cities is much like what is happening in progressive cities like Portland. Urban agriculture, garden education, and grassroots community organizing are working to build community support networks in order to give skills that may offer more independance from an unpredictable food system. Continue reading
Urban Gleaners 