Food Programs
SNAP
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Formerly called food stamps; Federal program to assist low-income people to purchase the food they need
Food Desert
An urban area where most of the community lives at least one mile or more from the nearest supermarket. They usually have food available, but all or most of it is unhealthy. Food deserts disproportionately affect people of color.
Food Waste
Food that is discarded or disposed that is or was fit for human consumption at some point. It can occur at any point in the food production process (farming, retailing, consuming, etc).
Food Banks
Stores large donations of food and distributes it to other organizations
Food System
All processes and labor involved in keeping us fed: growing, harvesting, processing, packaging, transporting, marketing, consuming, and disposing of tood and food packages. It also includes the inputs needed and outputs generated at each step.
Food Security
Access at all times to enough food for an active and healthy life; the availability of nutritious and safe foods, which can be acquired in socially "acceptable" ways (i.e. without resorting to emergency supplies, scavenging, etc.) The opposite is food insecurity.
Food Pantry
Provides food to people who do not have adequate access to food
Food Sovereignty (Sovereignty means supreme power or authority)
The right of people - especially farmers - to define their own agricultural and food systems. Food sovereignty demands that the policies and mechanisms involved in production, distribution, and consumption of food focus on creating ecologically sustainable systems and healthy lives for people, rather than profits for corporations.
Food Apartheid (Apartheid means a system of racial segregation)
A preferred term to Food Desert because it highlights the political reality of food insecurity. Food and agriculture is deliberately not made available to specific communities (For example, Black, brown, low-income, & indigenous communities).