The racial hunger gap in American cities and what to do about it

In this episode, we look at why millions of Americans are struggling to feed themselves. We explore some of the reasons behind racial disparities in U.S. food insecurity, and hear from experts with their suggested solutions. And the discovery of the bones of a small child, carefully buried in Kenya 78,000 years ago, provide a peek into the minds of ancient humans. Listen to episode 16 of The Conversation Weekly podcast.

Before the pandemic hit, official food insecurity rates in the U.S. were at an all time low. But there was a big racial divide. In 2019, the official food insecurity rate for Black people was 19% – more than twice as high as it was for white people at just under 8%. It was just under 16% for Hispanic people. To find out why, and what’s been going on during the pandemic, we’ve talked to three experts who study food insecurity and food justice. Caitlin Caspi, associate professor in the Department of Allied Health Sciences at the University of Connecticut, explains what happened at a local level during the pandemic, and the role food pantries play in helping people put food on the table. Craig Gundersen, professor of agricultural and consumer economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, talks us through what has happened to food insecurity rates, and where the racial disparities are. And Julian Agyeman, professor of urban and environmental policy and planning at Tufts University, explains what the legacy of racist urban planning policies has meant for access to food in American cities.

The Conversation Weekly is produced by Mend Mariwany and Gemma Ware, with sound design by Eloise Stevens. Special thanks for this episode go to Matt Williams in New York. Our theme music is by Neeta Sarl. If you'd like to sign up for The Conversation's free daily newsletter, please subscribe here. To get in touch, find us on Twitter @TC_Audio or on Instagram at theconversationdotcom. Or you can email us on [email protected]. Full credits for this episode can be found here. A transcript is available here.

In our second story, we talk to Maria Martinón-Torres, director of the Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana in Spain, about a landmark archaeological find in a cave in south-eastern Kenya that turned out to be the oldest burial ever discovered in Africa.

And Jonathan Este, international affairs editor at The Conversation in the UK, recommends some recent analysis by experts about the conflict in Israel-Palestine. 

Further reading:

All the articles in our ongoing series on food and poverty in the US are available here.

• What is food insecurity?, by Caitlin Caspi, University of Connecticut
• How urban planning and housing policy helped create ‘food apartheid’ in US cities, by Julian Agyeman, Tufts University
• The Biden administration can eliminate food insecurity in the United States – here’s how, by Craig Gundersen, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Why people with disabilities are at greater risk of going hungry – especially during a pandemic, by Melissa L. Caldwell, University of California, Santa Cruz
• A nutrition report card for Americans: Dark clouds, silver linings, by Dariush Mozaffarian, Tufts University
• Un niño recostado delicadamente, el primer enterramiento humano de África, by María Martinón-Torres, Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH)
• A cave site in Kenya’s forests reveals the oldest human burial in Africa, by Alison Crowther, The University of Queensland and Patrick Faulkner, University of Sydney
• Jerusalem: the politics behind the latest explosion of violence in the Holy City, by Carlo Aldrovandi, Trinity College Dublin
• Israeli politics and the Palestine question: everything you need to know, by John Strawson, University of East London