Hungry Britain

Book excerpt: Examining the prolific growth of UK charitable emergency food provision over the past fifteen years, Hungry Britain uses the human right to food as a pathway to developing solutions to food poverty. Hannah Lambie-Mumford draws on data from the country's two largest charitable food providers to explore the effectiveness of this emerging system of food acquisition, its enduring sustainability, and, most importantly, where responsibility lies for ensuring that all people can realize their human right to food. She shows that the increasing tendency of charitable food providers to take responsibility for protecting people against food poverty occurs in tandem with significant cuts to the welfare state--cuts shaping both the need for and nature of emergency food provision. Arguing for a clear, rights-based framework, this book envisions a future where a range of actors--from the state to charities and the food industry--will be jointly accountable in combating food poverty.