(no subject)

[hel_ana]

As part of a hunger awareness week, Gov. Ted Kulongoski of Oregon (and his wife, reportedly) lived on the $21 dollars a week that's the average food stamp allotment in Oregon

Perhaps predictably, it's being derided as a publicity stunt by people who don't really want to think about the systemic causes of hunger and poverty, preferring to blame the poor for just not being good enough people to afford to eat well. However, there's an interesting and telling bit in the second article about a state employee (in the Food Stamps agency) who herself qualifies for and uses food stamps.

Kulongoski is considering challenging Chimpy McFlightsuit and his wife to take the same challenge -- it'll be interesting to see how that goes over.

Comments

[cous-cous.livejournal.com]

I had read the story when he first started, and I gotta tell you-I got hungry just reading it.

Plus it's nearly impossible to follow a nutritious vegetarian diet on that little money.

[culturalnomad.livejournal.com]

Ahh, The Oregonian!! (the source in the second link you gave). It brings back memories of the times I have briefly lived in Oregon.

Let's hope Gov. Kulongoski learned something useful from the experience -- though one week doesn't look long enough to learn much. Most people can fast for a week or more without much difficulty or harm to health.

I think it might have been more "instructive" if he had chosen AND ANNOUNCED one of two directions to go with his choice of menu (or actually, his wife's choice). One would have been to eat what the average person on food stamps eats. The other would have been to look for the "best" choices possible on that budget -- the most nutritious, the best balanced, etc. Looking at what they actually ate, I'm not sure they intentionally did either one.

By the way, I just did some quick calculations. My wife and I, in Hong Kong, have a food budget that, when converted from HK to US dollars) comes to around US$23 a week. Of course, I don't know how food prices compare between here and there. I know a lot of other things are MORE expensive here, but I think food MAY be a little cheaper -- DESPITE the fact that almost ALL the food has to be imported from somewhere.