A Place at the Table

A Place at the Table is a documentary that looks at hunger in America. The film follows several families and their struggles to fill their plates day after day. Band-aid fixes are just not cutting it. The problem of hunger in America is just getting worse. The film is a sobering look at the reality that many Americans face.

My wife and I downloaded this from iTunes today and were so impacted by the film. The film follows several people of different races and backgrounds, urban to the South to the mountains of Colorado. All are working (as the film goes on) but none make enough to buy enough food to be sure it will last all month. Many of them do not even qualify for food stamps/bridge cards. The fact that the poor and hungry have little lobbying impact in Washington compared to the gigantic agribusiness flood of money is clearly part of the reason we see this dilemma where the richest large nation fails miserably in keeping its working poor feed. Please see this film if you care about this issue. Many of your opinions may turn out to be misconceptions founded on stereotypes.

As for Marc Newman's criticism, the idea that charity organizations like food kitchens and food banks sponsored by churches (yes, those clips of devoted pastors and churches were kept in and were very impressive) could solve this problem is ludicrous. We are talking about 50 million people and 13 million children. As my pastor (who is VERY conservative) says... the problem is overwhelming. There is no way volunteer and charitable organizations can meet the demand, and for Mr. Newman to suggest it could makes me wonder if he has ever worked at trying to get food to the poor. Many of us have done so and we know how huge this problem is... far beyond the resources of the faith community. As was noted in this documentary, the government once before almost totally eliminated hunger (in the late 70's) when both Democrats and Republicans (including Ronald Reagan) made it a priority. The government could do it again if it desired.

To the people going on about, and snubbing that "obese people just drink soda etc." you really miss the point. So much about hunger, and this documentary pertains to ACCESS. Why in the richest country in the world are there food deserts? It's all great to say, eat broccoli instead of chips, but in many parts of the world, the chips are the cheaper, and only food available. Why? We can not all afford or even have access to organic, lush foods. That is part of the problem. Not to mention lack of liveable wages. And, why should the church be solving the problem of hunger? Our ideology devalues human life. Years later if the Covid pandemic has taught us nothing, it's that most people are a just a pay check away from being food insecure. It has zero to do with weight, or laziness or whatever myopic excuses people who apparently never suffered a day in their life, portend to make it about.

This documentary should be seen by everyone who think that the economic system in the US is a perfect one. It also shows how much the people that actually generates wealth are exploited, just for the record bankers, financiers and the stock-market don't generate wealth, its the people that make products and services that benefit humankind that generates wealth.This of course comes from a guy that most Americans would consider a communist.

It warns about the future problems that the US might face if this type of problem is as prevalent as it depicts( I don't know all the facts behind this film ). If it is accurate then I hope for the people in the US will fix it instead of hope for the stock-market to fix it, it will not do that.

A PLACE AT THE TABLE (dir. Kristi Jacobson, Lori Silverbush) A brilliant documentary that confronts America's perennial inability to deal with the widespread problem of hunger in our nation. Ronald Reagan slashed federal programs that were beginning to solve the issue by the late 1970's, however he cynically felt that the matter would best be solved by relying on good old fashioned Christian charity. And it didn't work then, and it doesn't work now. Millions of Americans struggle daily with 'food insecurity' (you don't know where your next meal is coming from), and it seems that our leaders are convinced that the poor have it far too easy, and are just too dependent on the largess of the American tax payer. However, the film does expose the pertinent fact that America's richest food corporations were able to continue to enjoy 100% of their lavish federal government subsidy, yet the food stamp budget was severely cut to pay for a program to end childhood hunger. So much for our so called 'Christian' policies, and the film provides yet another reason for me to continue to be a proud secular humanist.