"Hangry" is Hunger for Privileged People"--article on The Daily Beast

ogmomma2012

Quality definitely can suffer a lot when you are poor. "Poor" being an umbrella term for anyone who cannot provide fully for themselves. From homeless shelters to sharing income and housing like my family does, it varies greatly. Usually a shared trait is being unable to cook a healthy meal, whether from lack of knowledge or lack of access to purchase healthy food. I am not as poor as someone else can be. I have a job. I have a home. I have a car. I have supportive family members. Not everyone one who could be legally classified as poor in the US is the same "level" of poor as I am. And not to mention education about health can be a factor as well.

I don't say I am hangry, or complain about my rather limited food choices, but I am still privileged in that I can go shopping and afford mostly healthy food as well as know how to cook it, and cook in a house that I can say I pay the mortgage on. Been in minimal situations all my life, this is the best one yet and so I am happy for what I have and make do with what I can. We are lucky to be in the position we are in.

ogmomma2012

TimothyFish wrote: »

In the US, even our beggars are wealthy, compared to some parts of the world.

Well, which beggar are you talking about? I think the ones who manage to get into a homeless shelter would be living the high life than some people in other places of the world.

softblondechick

I am not poor now, but I have lived it. No money for coffee, Cokes, or anything else we take for granted. Even clean drinking water is a luxury I enjoy now. I grew up drinking brackish sulphur tasting well water. Bread for sandwiches was too expensive. I loved school, but back then I had a "yellow" lunch ticket, they made you stand in a separate line. School equaled food for me. I was eligible for free school lunch and breakfast.

I don't support the way they have changed school lunches to be "healthier", the kids who really need the food, need as many free calories we can give them.

jvt63

Got it, softblonde. But in this land of plenty, why does it have to be a choice between healthy and enough? It sucks. But better "unhealthy" food than not enough. But we can and should do better for our kids--for everyone.

ana3067

EWJLang wrote: »

BS. "Hangry" refers to appetite making you cranky. Most often, it's seen in some dumbdonkey who is following a fad diet, restricting certain foods and food groups overnight to the point of headache, fatigue, etc.

Actual hunger, as experienced by people in poverty, is a gnawing craving for nourishing food that leads to short-term decisions about buying calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods to fill one's belly. Actual poor people can become obese as they rush to beat the horrible feeling of not having enough to eat....or the means to prepare actually nourishing food.

I appreciate the wake-up call. I grew up in a world where one was more likely to know 10 anorexics than 1 obese person. But that's a world of luxury, believe it or not. I just think this article is silly and communicates the idea very poorly.

Everyone can experience actual hunger. And people in poverty don't buy calorie-dense nutrient-poor food because of a gnawing craving, they buy it because that is what is most affordable, as well as there may not be as much selection for fresh food in poorer areas. It's not like being rich makes people crave salad and lean meat and fresh fruit all day, and being poor makes you crave Chef Boyardee.

SergeantSausage

KingofWisdom wrote: »

Mr_Knight wrote: »

Pretty much....although I would add that anybody who describes skipping a meal or two as "starving" themselves is also talking from a place of privilege.

Well, yes, but is that such a bad thing? I shouldn't have to apologize for having a good life.

Yeah, it's pretty bad, Bro. You shouldn't whine and winge about missing an occasional meal or two, mmm-kay? Nobody required apologies, nor even mentioned them. Get over your first world problems. They're nothing. Nothing.

MKEgal

EWJLang wrote:

"Hangry" refers to appetite making you cranky.
...
Actual hunger, as experienced by people in poverty, is a gnawing craving for nourishing food

stjost wrote:

You don't have to be poor to go hungry, and you don't have to be privileged to feel hangry

Yep.
Anyone can be hungry. And anyone can be hangry.
And the premise that business people (or really, anyone) should/do deliberately make themselves
low on blood sugar because it will somehow make them more effective is ridiculous.
.

peach wrote:

There are children who go days and days without eating. DAYS.
Don't think for a minute that the paltry hours you rack up even begins to compare.

They're both hungry. Why should it be a contest? Why is one person's pain not as good as another
person's pain, just because you judge it to be not as severe, or hasn't lasted as long? They're both
hungry and both deserve nourishing food (because it's the humane thing to do).
Employers regularly give workers short hours because they don't want to have to give them breaks,
including meal times. My last employer would schedule us for 5.5 hours, because at 6 they owed us
not only a meal break, but 2 on-the-clock 15-minute breaks (which were regularly ignored, because
they understaffed to try to save money).
.

ana wrote:

people in poverty don't buy calorie-dense nutrient-poor food because of a gnawing craving,
they buy it because that is what is most affordable

Someone on FB said something like this once, so I went to the grocery & got pictures of the price signs
for carrots, onions, beans, rice, and potato chips. Getting 1 lb _each_ of the healthy foods (4 lb total)
was less expensive than getting 1 lb of the chips. Plus they give more nutrition, more meals, more satisfaction.

TimothyFish

ogmomma2012 wrote: »

TimothyFish wrote: »

In the US, even our beggars are wealthy, compared to some parts of the world.

Well, which beggar are you talking about? I think the ones who manage to get into a homeless shelter would be living the high life than some people in other places of the world.

I've seen people drive to a church in an SUV and park in front of the door while they went inside to ask for money. How different that is from a person who works all day and hardly makes enough money to buy a bowl of rice.

ogmomma2012

TimothyFish wrote: »

ogmomma2012 wrote: »

TimothyFish wrote: »

In the US, even our beggars are wealthy, compared to some parts of the world.

Well, which beggar are you talking about? I think the ones who manage to get into a homeless shelter would be living the high life than some people in other places of the world.

I've seen people drive to a church in an SUV and park in front of the door while they went inside to ask for money. How different that is from a person who works all day and hardly makes enough money to buy a bowl of rice.

True true, for sure, and who knows maybe that SUV is the only thing left to that family's name? Believe me, I know the arguements. I am totally aware of the state of things around the world.

jvt63

I have to remind myself of this all the time.

cresyluna

Yeah, I can certainly say that while I'm snappish and grumpy when life just converges so that I'm starving before eating rather than just 'not full' (ex. I forget to bring lunch and am too busy to leave work to get something else, then we made a dinner reservation so my husband and I leave for that but there is a traffic accident ahead of us on the way there, adding a 45 minutes to our trip, etc.) I'm certainly not productive during that time. If anything, I'm most productive when I'm between, not full and just ate or really hungry for the next meal.

marissafit06

ana3067 wrote: »

EWJLang wrote: »

BS. "Hangry" refers to appetite making you cranky. Most often, it's seen in some dumbdonkey who is following a fad diet, restricting certain foods and food groups overnight to the point of headache, fatigue, etc.

Actual hunger, as experienced by people in poverty, is a gnawing craving for nourishing food that leads to short-term decisions about buying calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods to fill one's belly. Actual poor people can become obese as they rush to beat the horrible feeling of not having enough to eat....or the means to prepare actually nourishing food.

I appreciate the wake-up call. I grew up in a world where one was more likely to know 10 anorexics than 1 obese person. But that's a world of luxury, believe it or not. I just think this article is silly and communicates the idea very poorly.

Everyone can experience actual hunger. And people in poverty don't buy calorie-dense nutrient-poor food because of a gnawing craving, they buy it because that is what is most affordable, as well as there may not be as much selection for fresh food in poorer areas. It's not like being rich makes people crave salad and lean meat and fresh fruit all day, and being poor makes you crave Chef Boyardee.

@MKEgal part of affordability is not just the price of goods, but the time required to prepare the foods. For people stressed and working multiple jobs, the time required to prepare foods from scratch can make them less feasible. Furthermore, in a lot of urban poor areas, fresh goods cost more than prepared ones like potato chips. That's where the concept of food deserts come from.

But the fact that American poor are wealthier than third world poor doesn't diminish their struggle. Just because they typically don't have distended stomachs and no options, doesn't delegitimize the problems they have. The working poor are often in the hardest position, they can't afford to improve their situations, because they are barely affording to live in the first place.

PeachyCarol

MKEgal wrote: »

.

peach wrote:

There are children who go days and days without eating. DAYS.
Don't think for a minute that the paltry hours you rack up even begins to compare.

They're both hungry. Why should it be a contest? Why is one person's pain not as good as another
person's pain, just because you judge it to be not as severe, or hasn't lasted as long? They're both
hungry and both deserve nourishing food (because it's the humane thing to do).
Employers regularly give workers short hours because they don't want to have to give them breaks,
including meal times. My last employer would schedule us for 5.5 hours, because at 6 they owed us
not only a meal break, but 2 on-the-clock 15-minute breaks (which were regularly ignored, because
they understaffed to try to save money).

There are degrees of everything. A young person claiming that they know what it's like to be truly hungry because of a skipped meal is lacking big picture perspective and working from a decidedly narrow-focused worldview.

jvt63

But the fact that American poor are wealthier than third world poor doesn't diminish their struggle. Just because they typically don't have distended stomachs and no options, doesn't delegitimize the problems they have. The working poor are often in the hardest position, they can't afford to improve their situations, because they are barely affording to live in the first place.

Well said. America is the wealthiest country in the world. But our system favors individual freedom over common good, and the right to amass wealth over the responsibility to share it. American workers' productivity is through the roof, but the benefits of the productivity virtually never flow downward.

Food is more political than you'd think.