In a Food Crisis, How Can Having Food Be Harmful?

People come in all shapes and sizes. No secret there. For some it’s genetics, for some it’s diet/lifestyle, and for probably most people, it’s a combination of both factors that determines their size and shape. Hunger however, is a great equalizer. Clearly hunger won’t change anyone’s height, but if it’s severe enough, famine equalizes everyone’s width.

Famine is devastating, both physically and mentally, so when a catastrophe happens causing among other issues, people to starve or at least be significantly undernourished, much of their daily cognition is food focused. If they are hungry, especially extremely hungry and more importantly if their loved ones are hungry, especially their kids, even the most introverted person will speak up asking for food. Asking everyone and anyone they encounter. Asking belligerently.

No surprise there, no blame either. Anyone would do that. And most people being asked will be unhelpful and likely cower away when confronted. Most food seekers get used to that treatment and move on, but if they encounter someone that they are convinced has food or can help their family, they will get persistent, possibly aggressive, possibly threatening, and in some instances, violent.

So what causes them to perceive that the person they are fixated on has food? There are a number of factors:

1. 1. the appearance of wealth
   2. places they go to or come from
   3. who they are seen with
   4. transactions in cash
   5. indifference to the suffering around them
   6. their physical appearance: someone very fit or overweight is eating plenty of food

Any, or often a combination of those dynamics, sends a glaring message to someone desperate for food, that the person(s) they see before them, is (at least for the moment) the solution they need.

In a more normal life scenario, if you fit the trigger criteria and if you choose not to help them, it might not be too hard to turn away the begging person. In a crisis situation, especially an extended or dire one that has caused food scarcity, extricating yourself from attention may be very difficult. If you don’t have rapid access to a safe space, like a car with a path to get away, or the retreat of a building, you may have to negotiate your way out. If it’s an out of home situation where you have food on your person that you can give away to take the heat off, that might be sufficient.

It’s also possible that you’re not able to negotiate away the danger or possible that the threat will be ongoing.

One scenario might be a crisis—there are many possibilities, (read #4 straight from the instigator’s mouth) that keep everyone in their homes or neighborhood for weeks. Many families have at most, 2-3 weeks’ worth of food to feed their household. If little or no aid is available from the government, charity, relatives or friends, fear, strife, and suffering will set in. If the crisis continues and food support can’t get to them, those kindly neighbors may evolve new personas. Personas that go door to door begging for food, possibly as a mob, possibly aggressively.

You may be well prepared with enough food for your family to last years and feel this discussion doesn’t concern your family, but that preparedness will especially concern your family. Here’s why:

If you or those in your care speak about having food or stand out in any way, it’s like painting a target on your back. Your family will be ripe for being victimized. If you keep silent about food, remove any appearance of wealth or activities to indicate it, you will be much safer, yet there can still be one crucial indicator that can trigger a tragedy:

It’s no secret that undernourished people lose weight and thin down. If a month or two months go by in an area getting no food support, the population will all start to get thinner and their clothes will look loose and sloppy. If it continues longer, their gaunt appearances will get more extreme.

Your family living off of their stockpile of carefully readied food, will either be the same weights they were or only moderately lighter. That difference of your family’s appearance versus “the crowd” will be noticed and will invite disdain and potentially aggression against you and/or loved ones. Despite you doing nothing wrong and simply having been smart to be ready for such an occasion, the people observing you won’t see it that way. They will see someone has the food they need and they will want it.

In such a situation appeasing the unrest by sharing food might seem like a solution. However, offering food can be dangerous. While it might be your nature to help others in need, in a crisis situation, the “others” are likely too numerous for you to help and your good intentions and neighborliness won’t be appreciated overall, especially if some get assistance from you and others don’t. It will invite aggression and danger.

So if your family or some members are of normal weight and especially if your family or some are overweight, you may have to:

1. keep family members hidden out of sight
2. find a way for any family member that’s overweight to lose weight
3. be prepared to defend your home from attacks, continually

This isn’t about the health debate around obesity. This is about surviving based upon what “obesity” means to others in a food crisis. State of Readiness can help with your readiness strategy including methods to blend in and not draw attention to yourself, family, and home, as well as actions to take when a catastrophic event occurs.