Food, Glorious Food

Date: Saturday, April 4

Time: 4:47:12

Distance: 20:14 miles

I figure if you are going to run 20 miles, you might as well start at Starbucks. There are five in the Sinchon area of Seoul. None of them is open at 7:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning. Did not know that when I headed out the door…

A few miles down through the alleys and side streets of Mapo-gu and I realize that today is market day. Food vendors everywhere. As I dodge the carts and weave my way through the increasingly active crowds, I am faced with the sights, sounds, smells, color, and tastes of some of the best snack food and market fare you will find anywhere. My run becomes a culinary adventure as I stop to taste this skewer of squid and that cup of brine. While I enjoy eating my way through 20 miles of famous and not so famous Seoul street snacks, I wonder about those who will not eat today.

Worldwide around 852 million people are chronically hungry due to extreme poverty. As of late 2007, increased farming for use in biofuels, world oil prices at more than $100 a barrel, global population growth, climate change, loss of agricultural land to residential and industrial development, and growing consumer demand in China and India have pushed up the price of grain. Food riots have recently taken place in many countries across the world. More than half of the planet's population, numbering approximately 3.3 billion people, live in urban areas. Any disruption to farm supplies may precipitate a uniquely urban food crisis in a relatively short time.

· Programs seeking to protect or enhance the nutritional status of mothers and infants account for as much as half of the development resources channeled through USAID.

· A recent study in Ethiopia showed that food aid had a significant impact on protecting child growth during droughts.

· Studies of refugees in Algeria found that fortified food given to stunted children permitted rapid nutritional improvement.

· In Mexico, a government-supported program called Progressa supplies food to children under 3-years old in poor households. This has had a significant impact on child growth rates, reduced stunting and anaemia.

· These results confirm that food aid can certainly play an important part in nutrition programming.

· Given the scale and persistence of malnutrition around the world, there needs to be a far greater share of development resources earmarked for nutrition interventions than is currently available.

A direct relationship exists between food consumption levels and poverty. Families with the financial resources to escape extreme poverty rarely suffer from chronic hunger; while poor families not only suffer the most from chronic hunger, but are also the segment of the population most at risk during food shortages and famines.

A few hours after beginning my run by looking for Starbucks, I find myself back in Yonhidong filled with Kimchi, tofu, and a variety of delicacies smeared with red paste. The last two miles were at waddling speed. Twenty miles. Today, I don’t think I could make the last six. Let’s hope the Nashville route is not through the BBQ district. I will never survive.

And that’s the irony, isn’t it? I fear death by overconsumption. Millions face death daily because of severe under-consumption. Sobering? I invite you to join me in running to end poverty one child, one family, one village at a time.