Hunger and Its Causes

Defining Food Insecurity and Hunger

Food Security

Food Security is an official definition from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)—”the ready availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods.”

By contrast, food insecurity describes when people don’t have enough food to eat and/or don’t know where their next meal will come from.

Hunger

While everyone occasionally feels ‘hungry,’ in our context hunger describes a condition similar to the USDA’s definition of very low food security; an uncertainty of how and where to access enough nutritious food to live a healthy life.

Why We Use Both:

The Food Bank uses both hunger and food insecurity in different contexts. We generally use the term food insecurity in relation to measurable data. We also use hunger because people experiencing food insecurity often use it to describe their experience of chronic hunger.

Food Insecurity in Western Massachusetts

The Food Bank collects data from its member food pantries, meal sites, and other programs as well as our distribution sites to measure the demand for food assistance in the region and our impact. To protect the privacy of our guests, we limit the questions asked to a person’s town of residency, the number of people in their household, and the general age ranges of members of their household.

The data below can be sorted to show specific counties, towns and time periods. The charts show, by the month and year, the total number of people assisted each month and the meals equivalent of food provided. Data is also available in PDF format for Western Massachusetts, Hampshire County, Hampden County, Franklin County, and Berkshire County.

The Food Bank of Western MassachusettsPublic Data Dashboard

What Drives Hunger and Food Insecurity?

For too long, stereotypes and myths have misled public perception about why people experience food insecurity and hunger.

People who receive food assistance know the web of obstacles they face, from the cost of food to accessing other basic needs like affordable housing, public transportation, childcare, and medicine. Feeding America, the national network of food banks, identifies four general causes from its national research interviewing people who live with food insecurity.

Poverty and unemployment
Lack of affordable housing
Chronic health conditions
Racism and discrimination

The most recent data also shows these causes are interrelated and disproportionately impact black and brown communities resulting in stark socio-economic inequities. Feeding America’s research in “Identifying Racism in the Drivers of Food Insecurity” reveals this fact in Western Massachusetts:

Race/ Ethnicity	Food Insecurity	% of Population	Poverty Rate	Unemployment Rate	Median Income	Home Ownership	Disability Rate
All	9.6%	100.0%	13.6%	6.1%	$64843	64.7%	15.1%
White*	6.0%	80.7%	8.5%	4.9%	$72110	73.5%	14.6%
Latino	21.0%	10.4%	31.5%	10.6%	$35538	26.7%	18.2%
Black	23.0%	4.9%	24.4%	11.3%	$45362	39.6%	17.6%
Asian	data unavailable	3.0%	12.5%	6.1%	$65734	54.9%	8.1%
Native American	data unavailable	0.5%	19.7%	10.9%	$46974	42.8%	27.9%
Pacific Islander	data unavailable	0.1%	5.7%	0.0%	data unavailable	96.0%	7.6%

*(non-Hispanic)

For further explanation and state and national data, see Feeding America’s Data Dashboard >

For those not already aware of these racial disparities, the pandemic further exposed this reality. For too long, systemic barriers have created interconnected political, economic and social inequities for people of color (racism), women (gender discrimination), working people (unfair wages) and many others. To end hunger and change our future, we must understand our history.

Our society, economy and government have failed to ensure everyone lives with food security. The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and Feeding America exist for this reason.

Nutrition and Hunger

Hunger is not just about lack of food — it’s also a lack of nutritious food.

People experiencing food insecurity and hunger are more likely to be malnourished due to limited access to lean meats, fresh fruits and vegetables, and whole grains.

Many low-income neighborhoods do not have full-service grocery stores with affordable, nutritious food within walking distance or in reach of public transit. This reality, combined with the abundance of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores with few nutritious food options, have a measurable negative impact on health and wellness. People in any neighborhood can have inadequate refrigeration space, stoves and ovens, or a lack of education and know-how about nutrition and cooking.

In the United States, few people die from hunger and starvation alone. Rather, diets comprised of low nutrient-density foods (which tend to be higher in sugar and sodium and lower in protein, fiber, and vitamins) take their toll through higher rates of diet-related diseases such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and other chronic illnesses.

A lack of nutritious food has long-term health consequences for children, including increased rates of impaired cognitive and brain development, lowered immune response, short stature, and obesity. Similarly, studies show that malnourished elders experience more frequent and prolonged hospital stays, with a higher rate of complications.