Emily Frisan

Conrad, Zach , Meredith T. Niles, Deborah A. Neher, Eric D. Roy, Nicole E. Tichenor, Lisa Jahns. (2018) Relationship between food waste, diet quality, and environmental sustainability. 

Food Action and Research Center. (2021) Hunger, Poverty, and Health Disparities During COVID-19 and the Federal Nutrition Programs’ Role in an Equitable Recovery

Rabbitt, M.P., Hales, L.J., Burke, M.P., & Coleman-Jensen, A. (2023). Household food security in the United States in 2022 (Report No. ERR-325). U.S. Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service. https://doi.org/10.32747/2023.8134351.ers

Rabbitt, Matthew P., Laura J. Hales, Madeline Reed-Jones, and Alisha Coleman-Jensen. (2023) Key Statistics & Graphics. 

United Nations. (n.d) Fast Facts – What are sustainable food systems?

Hello. Welcome to Food for Thought, the podcast exploring the intersections of food, society, and justice. This podcast is for anyone who cares about what they eat, where it comes from, and how it affects their health and the planet. 

I’m your host, Emily Frisan, and I’m excited to share with you this new series of episodes based on themes of equitable, environmental, and economic food security in the United States.

Food security is the condition in which all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. 

However, this is not the reality for many Americans, especially those who are marginalized by race, class, gender, and geography. These Americans often face the consequences of an unsustainable and inequitable food system. 

I imagine a sustainable food system as one that delivers food security and nutrition for all. The system encompasses everything from the processing, packaging, and transporting of food to consumers.   

The United Nations’ 2nd aim, ‘Zero Hunger’, of their “Sustainable Development Goals”, is working to end hunger and all forms of malnutrition by 2030. The UN estimates that 780 million people have experienced hunger which impacts one in ten globally. The world is not on track to achieve this goal and 660 million people may still face hunger by 2030.” 

In the United States alone, nearly 13%, or 34 million people, were food insecure in 2023. This estimate could be as high as 44.2 million Americans.

At times during the year, these households were uncertain of having or unable to acquire enough food to meet the needs of all their members because they had insufficient money or other resources for food. Within these percentages, 7.3 million children lived in food-insecure households.

According to the Food Research and Action Center, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the well-being of those struggling against hunger-related poverty in the US, in terms of geography, the food insecurity rate is highest in the South at 14.5  percent, followed by the Midwest at 12.4 percent, and similarly the Northeast at 11.6 and the West at 11.2 percent.

Food insecurity is linked to a wide range of negative health outcomes, and rural Americans are at higher risk for poor health outcomes than their urban counterparts. 12.1% of rural households faced food insecurity in 2020, compared to 10.3% of households in metropolitan areas. Rural areas grow most of our nation’s food, yet households face considerably deeper struggles with hunger than those in metropolitan areas.

In this series, I’ll dive into the challenges and opportunities of achieving food security in a country that produces more than enough food but also wastes a lot of it. 

Over the course of each episode, I’ll learn about the causes and consequences of the se issues, as well as the innovative and creative solutions that are being implemented or proposed. I’ll also examine the impacts of food production and consumption on the environment and climate change, as well as the role of policy, innovation, and activism in creating a more sustainable and just food system. 

Ultimately, how do these factors affect the availability, accessibility, affordability, quality, and diversity of food for different communities and regions? 

Each episode will feature a different guest who is an expert or practitioner in the field of food security. We will hear from non-profit leaders, academics, farmers, entrepreneurs, and activists who are working to address the root causes and consequences of food insecurity in their communities and beyond.

The topics I will be covering in the series include:

• The State of Food Insecurity in the US: Who is affected and why?
• The Environmental Costs of Food Waste: How much do we waste and what can we do about it?
• The Power of Agriculture: How can growing food in communities improve access, health, and resilience?

My last episode will be a reflection on the podcast experience interviewing professionals, how the content evolved throughout the project, what I learned, and how we can take the lessons learned to advocate for a more equitable system.

My goal is to inform, inspire, and engage you in this important conversation and to spark your curiosity and appetite for change. By listening to this podcast, I hope you will gain a deeper understanding of the complex and interconnected challenges of food security, as well as the opportunities and actions that we can take to make a difference.

I hope you will join me for this journey into the world of food security. You can subscribe to Food for Thought on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can keep up with my other content by checking out my website, in addition to citations I discussed and transcripts, at emilyfrisan.com. All of the important links will be mentioned in the description of the episode.

Thank you for listening and stay tuned for the first episode coming soon in late February. Goodbye!