Food Insecurity PodCast

Food Group Podcast aims to create awareness about food insecurity. The guest, Julian Finger, explains that food insecurity is not just about hunger, but about the uncertainty of having access to affordable, nutritious food. African Americans are disproportionately affected by food insecurity due to factors like poverty, unemployment, and systematic racism. Disparities in access to supermarkets contribute to the problem, leading to the consumption of unhealthy food and higher rates of obesity and diseases. Solutions to address food insecurity include reducing waste, promoting nutrition education, addressing poverty, and supporting agriculture. The consequences of food insecurity include overweight, obesity, and related health issues. Awareness and support are crucial in helping African American communities overcome food insecurity. Contact Julian for further questions or information. Welcome to the Food Group Podcast. Here we create awareness for food insecurity and everything that comes with it. As always, our audience is intended for everybody, and I appreciate everyone for tuning in today. My name is Jalen Finger, and our guest today is Julian Finger, who is a current student at Monmouth University. To start things off, let's first define what food insecurity is. Food insecurity isn't just about hunger. It's about the uncertainty of having sufficient access to enough affordable, nutritious foods that lead to an inactive and unhealthy life. Truth be told, this is a sad reality for many people. I've already introduced our guest, Julian, he's an expert in food insecurity. Welcome to the podcast, Julian. Thank you for having me here today, Jalen. I'm very glad to be here. Before we start, may you tell us a little bit about yourself? Yes, I can do that. I'm currently a student at Monmouth University, and I'm currently going to major in marketing. I'm also going to minor in leadership communications. I'm about to finish my second semester of my freshman year, and I'm excited for what's next. Wow, that's awesome. Today, we're going to create awareness about the African American community and how they are being negatively affected by food insecurity. But first, how do you feel about the big question today? Why are African Americans disproportionately impacted by food insecurity? Well, to answer that question, you also have to answer what food insecurity really is. Food insecurity is a state of not having access to an amount of affordable and nutritious foods in your household. Now, to answer your question, but there isn't just one reason for it. There are a number of reasons why African Americans are disproportionately impacted by food insecurity. Well, that's very true. I'm very curious about the reasons why African Americans are impacted by this and what research you have stumbled upon. While I was conducting my research, I stumbled upon an article regarding this topic, and it was by a writer, Marsana Harris, who is currently a student at Spelman College. She wrote an article called, How and Why Does Food Insecurity Disproportionately Hurt Marginalized Groups? In which the article talks about how poverty, unemployment, and systematic racism can affect food insecurity among the African American community. There's a very interesting stat in the article, which talked about the disparities between black and white neighborhoods. It stated, on average, white neighborhoods have four times more supermarkets than black neighborhoods. The average person in a predominantly black local area travels 1.1 miles farther to the nearest grocery store than the average person in a predominantly white, low-income area. When I was reading this, I wasn't that surprised, being at the amount of adversity, segregation, and racism that African Americans have to face in this country today. The access to supermarkets in some neighborhoods is very alarming. This creates an unequal playing field for black neighborhoods, which ultimately leads them to having to buy more junk food rather than healthy food, which inevitably makes them obese or fat. Along with my research, I also found another case study by Terzi Toler-Peterson, and it's called, Food Insecurity, Depression, and Race, Correlations Observed Among College Students at a University in Southeastern United States. This talked about the food insecurity rates in Mississippi and how there is a disparity between African Americans and Caucasian Americans. In this study, it stated that, looking at Mississippi, the state's African American population has the highest mortality rate due to heart disease, hypertension, stroke, and diabetes. In addition to this, having a significantly greater prevalence of food insecurity compared to Mississippi's Caucasian people. Due to high food insecurity rates, the health of African Americans is much more at risk compared to others, which are very alarming. Wow, thank you for sharing those very surprising facts. I can see that food insecurity is also a systematic problem that has devastating effects on the African American community. Can you share any solutions that you suggest would help them? Yes, I can do that. There are a variety of ways to help the community, and it's simple if you really think about it. This could be reducing food waste, promoting nutrition education, addressing poverty and economic inequality, and supporting agriculture. Some simpler ways to help food insecurity are also to volunteer at local food banks and donate to food organizations. That's great to hear. These easy solutions are anything that any of our listeners today could participate in. I have a couple more questions for you today. From your research, what conclusions did you eventually come upon? Well, throughout my research, I concluded that there are many reasons why race is a major factor regarding food insecurity among African Americans due to limited healthy foods, which create unhealthy environments and impact them physically, mentally, and economically. What are some consequences of living and dealing with food insecurity? Well, some consequences of dealing and living with food insecurity can be overweight, obesity, and diseases, which we discussed earlier. These are all underlying causes of food insecurity, which is what these African American communities deal with daily in our country today. You heard it here, folks. Food insecurity can be devastatingly impactful in African American communities, and people need to help them at all costs because they deserve the help based on all the unfairness in here with food security. Well, by just having this conversation here today helps bring awareness to what African American communities are dealing with compared to everyone else in today's country. Food insecurity is way more impactful than you might think. And my last question for you today, is there any way that people can contact you and connect with your research? Yes, you can contact me from my number at 908-255-7386 or my Monmouth University email, which is S1354168 at monmouth.edu. If you have any further questions or you're curious about this topic, just email me and I will get back to you. Thank you so much today, Julian, for discussing this important issue and sharing your research with us today. Thank you to everyone who's listening, and enjoy your day today. And remember that you can play a role in cutting down on food insecurity in the African American community just by going to local food banks or donating to food organizations. You've been listening to Food Group Podcast. Share this podcast with your friends and family so they can join the group. Join us next time for another conversation about food insecurity in our society.