table talk / By Meghannraye Sutton

Something Out of Nothing

What to do with a boxful of gleaned goods from the food bank

(July 10, 2008)  This week’s Table Talk is not about what’s on the table, it’s about what’s not on the table.

There are no elegant grilled oysters on the table. There’s no gourmet Japanese sushi topped with simply delightful Unagi sauce. There are no chocolate bon-bons.

GALLERY >

There’s a can of string beans and a can of refried beans. There’s a more-than-a-week-expired — but not yet spoiled — gallon of fat-free milk. There are stale crackers. And there’s a box of pistachio-flavored pudding. That’s what’s on the table for the next month.

Twice a week, the Food For People Food Bank in Eureka — the official food bank of Humboldt County — gives out boxes full of food to hungry people and families in our community. Monthly, it gives out hundreds. Most of these people can only dream about eating Tomo sushi.

Exactly one cardboard boxful per month: That’s how much food each person is allotted. The boxes are chock-full of canned vegetables and soups from the USDA, gleaned (meaning partially damaged or unwanted) local produce, and almost-expired supermarket food. Rejected food from middle-class society is given to food banks, and ultimately goes into the mouths and stomachs of financially needy people.

Last month, the food bank gave out 774 of these food boxes to community members. Most of them live in Eureka. Some of them were families. Some were individuals. Some of them had been there before, but almost 20 percent (136 people) had never had to ask the food bank for food before. This indicates the spread of hunger in our community, and the capacity for the hunger epidemic to grow drastically in the face of increasingly unaffordable food.

I met a guy down there on Wednesday, Carl Jensen. He works full-time as an in-home health provider for the elderly. He said he barely makes enough money from week to week to eat. He works his job for the life experience and not the money, he said. When he gets hungry, that’s where the food bank comes in.

Once a month, Jensen picks up two food boxes from the food bank, one for himself and one for an elderly lady he takes care of. He was at the food bank bright and early on Wednesday to pick up their monthly food boxes. As he loaded the boxes into the back of his station wagon, he took a minute to talk with me.

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