Tackling food poverty

Household food insecurity – or food poverty – has risen in the UK and many wealthy western societies as global crises have exposed and exacerbated existing social inequalities.

The unequal distribution of entitlement and access to food is increasingly a feature of wealthy western societies. We found that even with adults cutting back on their own food intake, children in about one quarter of the families in the study in each country mentioned going without enough to eat at times. But, in some countries, free and subsidised school meals seem to have a protective effect.

Emeritus Professor Julia Brannen

Food is fundamental. Children’s health, education and social lives are blighted by poor nutrition and opportunities to participate in customary food and eating practices. The UK government must recognise, as young people do, that ensuring our children can eat properly is a duty it shares with parents.

Dr Rebecca O'Connell, Reader in the Sociology of Food and Families