Rhubarb and Honey Takes The Hunger Challenge

Let's face it. We all get hungry. In today's fast-paced world, we often rush through life, moving from here to there at break neck speed in order to meet the multiple demands placed on us by our families and our jobs. When a hunger pang hits, we often grab something quick and easy in order to satisfy what our body is asking for. Other times, we just endure until we can sit down and eat a proper meal. But while we may sometimes feel like we're starving at these moments, we're not experiencing true hunger ... the hunger that stems from not knowing when we might be able to eat again.

For 1 in 6 Americans, food insecurity and true hunger are a daily reality. Here in Missouri, the US Department of Agriculture estimates that almost 16% of our nearly six million residents face ongoing uncertainty in acquiring sufficient food for their household; of these, almost 6% experience "very low food security," meaning that "the food intake of one or more household members is reduced and their eating patterns are disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food." In other words, they are cutting back on how much food they eat—or skipping meals entirely—because the food just isn't there.

I can't imagine experiencing true hunger, and I especially can't imagine experiencing it while living with a life-threatening illness, such as HIV/AIDS or cancer. But, for the clients of Food Outreach, this is their reality.

Hello. My name is Kimberly, and I'm the author of a local food blog called Rhubarb and Honey. In addition to food blogging, I serve as one of three co-leaders for Slow Food St. Louis and am a former development committee member (and current long-time supporter) of Food Outreach.

Both my husband (an Executive Chef at a private golf club) and I have agreed to participate in Food Outreach's Hunger Challenge, and while it sounds daunting, I know we're up for the challenge. Our personal food philosophy is that healthy, delicious food, preferably produced locally and in a sustainable manner, should be available to everyone. To that end, we strive to use as much locally-produced and/or organic food as possible when we cook, and we're looking forward to seeing how we can each stretch our $29 food allotment ($58 for the both of us for one week) to include foods that fit our food philosphy.

We'll be taking the Hunger Challenge the week of September 11th - 17th, and I'll be blogging about our experiences daily, both on my blog Rhubarb and Honey and here on the Food Outreach blog. Again, we're looking forward to taking the challenge ... and I suspect, we'll all learn something new!