This week we saw a heavy down pour of rain which seemed to time itself just as we were setting up. Rivers of flooding water were running under our tables.
Alhamdullah, this did not deter our guests. We saw many new faces this week. One in particular moved us, an elderly gentleman, who it was clear hadn’t visited a food bank before. He waited patiently in the queue, but when it was his turn he couldn’t take any food from our kitchen. In the end one of our volunteers had to help him by physically putting food items in his bag after asking his permission and preferences.
His friend described it as “shyness” , but having now witnessed this several times before, we both understood what it was.
Many new guests find it deeply traumatic to be reduced to having to go to a food bank in order to feed their family. A sense of shame and loss of dignity cannot be underestimated. They literally cannot go though with it – their body freezes when it comes to taking free food.
We have to help them at each step, in the most respectful way, reassuring them it’s okay, we are here to help them, asking them what their food preferences are, asking their permission to put food in their bag for them. Trying best to salvage their dignity by making sure they stay in control by choosing their own food, and giving permission at each step.
In her ethnographic study of a poor estate in Nottingham “Getting By – Estates, class and culture in austerity Britain” Lisa Mckenzie describes the stigma attached to foodbanks:
“As a working-class woman, being unable to provide for your children and having to ask for a referral to a food bank is the ultimate disgrace; admitting defeat is most mothers’ worst fear. I have known women who have told me that they would rather ‘go on the game’ (become a prostitute) than go to a food bank.”
So it’s particularly disgusting when members of parliament, including some former ministers from the government that purposely unleashed austerity policies knowing full well it would push millions into poverty and hunger, describe those who are forced to go to food banks in order to survive, as being too lazy to learn to cook; as needing to learn how to budget better; to prioritise what they buy; and describing parents going to food banks in order to feed their children as failing in their parental responsibilities.
In response the Trussel Trust, the largest foodbank franchise in the UK, issued a statement saying: “Cooking from scratch won’t help families keep the lights on or put food on the table, if they don’t have enough money in their pockets. Our research shows that people at food banks had on average just £57 a week to live on after housing costs, and no amount of budget management or cooking classes will make this stretch to cover council tax, energy bills, food and all the other essentials we all need to get by.”
Contrast this to David Cameron’s cabinet that ushered in austerity, two thirds are millionaires… and that was before richest-ever prime minister Sunak came to power.
In a photo op at a shelter, Sunak asked a homeless person whether he “worked in business”! “No, I’m homeless. I’m actually a homeless person,” the man replied. The Prime Minister went on to ask the homeless man if he wanted to get into the finance industry. The man replied “I don’t know, I’d like to get through Christmas first.” The ruling elite are so out of touch with ordinary people, they feel they live in a different word, that the suffering they cause the poor is of no consequence, so do not need to understand their plight.
Other Interesting Posts:
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 39
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 38
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 37
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 12
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 11
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 10
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 8
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 7
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 6
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 5
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 4
Resistance Kitchen Update – Week 3