About the Illustrator:  The beautiful image below was created by Rebecca Garofano, our Food Dignity Institute Lead and Illustration Specialist. You can find more of her work at @VeggieDoodleSoup on Instagram and at her website. Putting together meals is more challenging than ever. Even the most basic of groceries like eggs are increasingly expensive. Come harvest, peaches will be impacted by price increases because of supply chain issues caused by environmental factors.  Global politics plays a role, too. For example, when the war in Ukraine began, the wheat supply chain was impacted. When there is an uptick in price and supply chain issues at the grocery stores, it’s compounded within the food banking system. People have asked me how those experiencing food insecurity cope with such challenges. Generally, if their regular pantry does not have something they need or rely upon, many people will go to another pantry that’s funded through a different source to diversify their diets. For some people, the option of going to more than one pantry is fundamental to feeding their family.

This is no different than visiting stores because someone doing this is reflective of shortages and stringencies at food pantries. It is hard for pantries to provide food and often it is impossible to provide someone with the food to make a complete meal because we are limited in what we can offer people. We often must impose limits on quantity even if we do have the type of food needed. Sourcing food from several sources is sometimes therefore a complete necessity, much in the same way that I might go to one store for the best fruit, another for the vegetables I want, and yet another to find some item one of the stores did not have in stock. When someone tries to exercise this kind of careful multisource food procurement, they can face a lot of judgment. This is a critical place to develop empathy. We often create a false narrative based on our life experience, our perceptions, what we think is true, or even what we want to think is true. The community is small enough that volunteers might see one person in two places on the same day. The assumption is that they’re generally seeking a greater quantity of food, but the issue here is usually one of quality—variety. I want to hear from you. Please let me know—anonymously or otherwise—how many food sources you visit regularly. I hope, no matter where or how you get food on the table, that you will reflect on the privilege of choice and the importance of multiple food options that are relevant to you. Send any comments about how multisourcing food has impacted you to my email at clancy@clancyharrison.com.