Hunger and Happiness

Book excerpt: In a world where there is so much food, why are so many people hungry? Amidst so much plenty, why aren't people happier? L. Shannon Jung insists that the two questions-one having to do with physical hunger, the other with spiritual want-are related. Hunger and Happiness exposes the atrocities of a global food system whereby the affluent "feed" at the expense of others, but then goes on to explore how complicity in the hunger of others contributes to the "spiritual malnourishment" of those who otherwise are well fed. Chapters address particular aspects of a global food policy that insures cheap food for some at great expense to many others. Jung considers the psychological and theological implications of such policy and after assessing the moral ramifications of cheap food, offers possibilities for alleviating physical hunger in the world and spiritual malaise in our lives.