Right now millions of Muslims across the globe are fasting for the holy month of Ramadan. Fasting is a time of “spiritual discipline—of deep contemplation of one’s relationship with God, extra prayer, increased charity and generosity, and intense study of the Quran.” Fasting encourages compassion for those without food by reminding you what it’s like to suffer from hunger.
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Breaking fast in Jama Masjid, New Delhi (2018)
Therefore fasting—practiced across many religions and cultures—is a way in which we recognize our common human fragility. From participating in the “Feeling Hunger” contemplative practice I was reminded of how we are all at the mercy of our own bodies. For that day I was forced to confront the discomfort of scarcity. As I focused on the uncomfortable yet grounding ache at my core I realized my dependency on all the interconnected systems I subconsciously rely on—the grocery stores, the truck drivers, the farmers, and the money in my pocket that gives me the power to satiate that hunger. Underneath the inequalities we are all ruled by that most basic instinct of self-preservation. Reconciliation with that feeling, then, should underpin our decision making in the realm of world food system’s political ecology.
A mountain of dumped potatoes in Picabo, Idaho
During the contemplative practice I found my mind wandering to the events of these past few months. It’s hard to ignore the mounting concern about COVID-19’s impact on food systems. The pandemic could cause a colossal spike in hunger—hunger not out of spiritual or religious practice but out of a failure to connect the surplus potatoes being dumped and families struggling to put food on the table. On a global scale, developing countries are expected to be hit hard with widespread food shortages, creating a “crisis within a crisis” of coronavirus outbreaks compounded by hunger.
Hunger is not an issue of the past but an issue of today. Some people are stuffed while others are starved. Food waste, population growth, price fluctuations, distribution networks, natural disasters, and power disparities combine to perpetuate hunger. Remembering the pain of hunger highlights the injustice of a world food system that still leaves millions hungry. We all know the feeling of hunger, but only some of us are the 820 million suffering from undernourishment—the hungry.
