National Geographic August '14: The New Face of Hunger

National Geographic has put up a central issue to discuss about for 8 months, which is the future of food. Last year, we have analysed and looked deeply into human population that will soon reach 7 million. Now the after effect that everyone should be aware of is food. It is hard for us to imagine a world where we have to worry about food. There's no way we will run out of food, right? Yes, way. This month on National Geographic, we are confronted with the new face of hunger. 

One central question brought up on the first page of this special feature is still lingering in my mind:

"Why are people malnourished in the richest country on Earth?"

According to some experts, by 2050 we'll need to feed two billion more people. The Earth will be overwhelmed, unless we do something about it. Before digging deeper into how we can avoid mass hunger in the future, there's something all of us should be concerned about: the fact that millions of working Americans don't know where their next meal is coming from. The face of hunger in America is unlike the traditional definition of hunger -- a family with no source of income, living under an extreme poverty, and the children just skin and bone. In America, you will be surprised to see a white household, with 1 working adult and slightly overweight children, living in a fully furnished house that is "food insecure" - the modern term for the hungry coined by the US government in 2008. 

In fact, of America's 48 million food insecure, more than half are white, and more than half live outside cities. They may look like a middle-class working family, but you'll know the truth behind them when you see their empty fridges, consist of mostly processed food, with little or no vegetables or fruits. They rely on food stamps or soup kitchens, which often times are not providing enough healthy food, and the children end up being malnourished. With fast food and processed food being cheaper and easier to get, it makes perfect sense to see more children becoming overweight in spite of the fact that their families are food insecure.

Reading the special 24-page feature on Nat Geo this August has given me a whole new insight about what is happening in the world. It's shocking, but very much true. Well, if hunger is happening right now in a country as big as America, how about the rest of the world? It will be much worse, and without helps or solutions, the problem will only grow bigger and more urgent, because new babies are born every second, which means more mouths to feed, and less food to give. The planet is indeed overwhelmed unless we humans start taking actions.

Next month Nat Geo will be looking at some solutions to tackle the rising need of food. Could eating like our ancestors make us healthier? 

If you want to read more deeply into this, don't forget to grab a copy of this month's National Geographic in your nearest bookstores.