Transcript Who Uses Food Banks and Why?

Who Uses Food Banks and Why?
Photo: Mirrorpix
Caroline Comerford
Dr Lyndsay Alexander
Why was the research needed?
Good quality studies have been carried out internationally but
there are a limited number of UK studies.
www.rcinet.ca
Food Security
‘All people, at all times, have physical and economic
access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets
their dietary needs and food preferences for an active
and healthy life’.
© Trussell Trust
Income poverty because of austerity measures (including
welfare reform) rising food and energy prices, inadequate
welfare provision, a low-paid, insecure job market.
© Trussell Trust
Methods and sample
- Primary research
- One-to-one, semi-structured interviews that gave
participants the opportunity to describe their
experiences
- Short form Household Food Security Scale to assess
food insecurity
- Adults (n=8) 17-52 years
- Men and women
- Majority on benefit
- One in work
- One educated to postgraduate level
Income Poverty
‘By the time you actually get your benefits and you pay for what you
need to pay for i.e. gas, electric, food and there’s virtually nothing left.’
‘Why, cause basically at the moment, eh, I’m between benefits my
ESA got stopped....I’m waitin’ for appointment for the job seekers
allowance, eh, until then it’ll be another two, three weeks before I get
a payment.’
‘Skint. That’s got to be the number one answer. Eh, having no money,
at the moment.’
Food Insecurity
‘Instead of waking up having breakfast, waking up, waiting a few hours,
and having breakfast and then, that way, you don’t have to eat as much
in the day, if that makes sense? ‘
‘A typical day now is I’ll get up in the morning, have a cup o’ tea and
maybe a bit o’ toast or cereal or somethin’ an’ I won’t eat anythin’
‘til...maybe 6 o’ clock at night.’
‘You find yourself drinking a lot, a lot, of tea.....Just so it fills yer up.’
Coping
‘If I do go shopping, I’m going to likes o’ Iceland and Lidls and, nothin’
against these places, but I’m going and getting ready meals for a
pound and stuff like that, because it’s all I can afford.’
‘Aye, I go in’a the bins........I’ve even resorted to, unfortunately,
some’imes goin’ to a shop an’ stealin’ a bit o’ food, you know.’
‘I’m nae a thief. Bit, I taen a pint o’ milk ‘is mornin’..... I wouldna say
it’s against ma principles because I’ll dae anything for me kids. You
understand what ahm sayin’?’
Stigma
‘Yeah because it, like, I don’t know if it goes back to stigma .. cause to
me at my ‘ead, places like these are for people that’s homeless or you
seen them begging in the streets and stuff like ‘at.’
‘A lot of people can’t ask for help because it’s the hardest thing in the
world and really once it’s done it not it doesn’t hurt as much.’
Food banking – moral imperative or moral safety valve?
‘Food banking has ‘an
increasing presence and
unconditionally positive
reception in the media,
producing as a kind of side
effect, increasingly stronger
backing from governments
and support from society
for such charity – adding to
and affirming its public
legitimacy, confirming the
de-politicisation of hunger
as a matter for public policy
and the state’
References
Lambie, H., 2011. The Trussell Trust foodbank network: Exploring the growth of
foodbanks across the UK. Coventry: Coventry University.
Riches, G., 2011. Thinking and acting outside the charitable food box: hunger and the
right to food in rich societies. United Kingdom: Carfax/Taylor & Francis, Abingdon UK.
Cavero, T. and Poinasamy, K., 2013. A Cautionary Tale. The true cost of austerity and
inequality in Europe.
Ingram, J.S. et al., 2013. Priority research questions for the UK food system. Food
Security, 5(5), pp. 617-636.
Ruckert, A. and Labonte, R., 2014. The global financial crisis and health equity: Early
experiences from Canada. Globalization and Health, 10(1), 2.
Dowler, E.A. and O’Connor, D., 2012. Rights-based approaches to addressing food
poverty and food insecurity in Ireland and UK. Social Science and Medicine, 74(1),
pp. 44-51.
Dowler, E., 2012. The future of UK household security. London: Industry and
Parliament Trust.
Ashton, J.R., Middleton, J. and Lang, T. on behalf of 170 signatories, 2014. Open
letter to Prime Minister David Cameron on food poverty in the UK. The Lancet, Vol.
383, Issue 9929, Page 1631.