Food Survey

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1. Where do you live (country, state, or continental region, such as south Asia/east Europe/etc.)?
2. Is there any type of food that is common in other parts of the world that is hard to get in your area for reasons other than the local climate?
3. Are fruits and vegetables affordable for most people in your area?
4. Is there governmental or charity assistance for people who can't afford food?
5. Can people afford quality, nutritious food with this assistance? If there is no assistance, how do poor people eat?
6. Do you think people use this assistance well (for example, do they buy junk food or overly expensive items)?
7. Is there anything you would like to change about food issues in your area (such as outdoor markets, childhood nutrition, cleanliness regulations, etc.)

1. Europe
2. No
3. Yes
4. Yes, Charity, example -St Vincent De Paul assisting over 140,000 families with necessities this Christmas. (food, fuel and basic clothing)
5. Non perishable nutritious food available
6. Food is provided
7. Address reasons for the rise in childhood obesity and diabetes. Provide relevant businesses/corporations with tax incentives (for something the citizens could benefit from) for the provision of fresh produce at the same price as processed special offer food. Incorporate compulsory life skills into the curriculum from the start of schooling to include basic food education.

1. WA (Australia)
2. I can't think of any. There are certain types of food that are hard to find here but I believe they are also not that common in other parts of the world.
3. Yes.
4. I believe so. Unemployed people receive money from the government although it doesn't even cover the rent. Other than that there are some charity organizations that are supposed to provide food etc for poor people.
5. If the money from the government is used wisely, it should be enough to buy nutritious food.
6. I hear many poor people waste the assistance money on junk/alcohol etc. I personally know someone who spend majority of her money on cigarettes and alcohol.
7. Fatty food needs to be somehow made less accessible. There are too many obese people.

Australia - NSW - Sydney - Blue mountains region.


none that there is a market for.

yawn...yes.

yes


no one starves in australia. very poor people go to soup kitchens (which serve all types of meals). there are not many who are that poor.

they all look fat and happy to me. whatever they are spending their money on, it seems to keep them healthy.



not really. there are some people in australia who get themselves into trouble by becoming addicted to gambling or to expensive drugs, and they may wind up with no money to buy anything, and they then would have to spend some effort to travel to the areas where the free food is being served (not on every street corner).

i will provide a rough breakdown of the financial situation (as far as i know) for an unemployed australian who has long term limited prospects for employment and would otherwise be destitute in the U.S.A.

if they are considered unemployable, then they get disability pension which is about $880 per fortnight.
if they are not considered unemployable, they get a "newstart" pension which is about $560 per fortnight.

in both cases, if they are considered to be unable to afford any rentable property, then they will be allocated a place on a waiting list for government housing. in cases where they have no one they can visit to accommodate them, and where their only option is to sleep on the street, they will be given emergency housing until a permanent government owned house becomes available for them (usually a few months). people who have many options for alternative accommodation however can wait for up to 2 years.

government housing is always a self contained unit or house and never shared accommodation or worse. the cost is usually 20% of the pension, so in the case of newstart people, it would be $56 per week and for the disability people it would be $88 per week.

all legal citizens of australia are entitled to an indefinite pension if they are disabled or elderly, and also if they are unemployed, however able bodied unemployed people are forced to look for work as a condition of their entitlement to benefits.


pensioners do not have to pay to register their cars. they pay for the third party slip, but not for registration.
pensioners do not have to pay to renew their drivers licenses.
pensioners are entitled to discounts on utility bills as well as receiving a utility allowance from the government every quarter.

pensioners pay no more than $5.90 for any prescription medication.
pensioners can travel all day on the train and bus for $2.50 etc..etc...

they most often can afford ample food as well as some alcohol and even small amounts of pot with the money left over, and if not, then they are usually gripped by expensive vices that suck their money away. even then, if they have to go to a food distributor for the poor to have a meal, they are never questioned as to why they can not otherwise afford "normal paid for" food.

there is no food problem in australia i believe.

1. California.
2. Yes. Genuine haggis is intolerably difficult to obtain around here.
3. Yes, provided that they don't spend their relief allowances on alcohol, cigarettes, drugs and junk food.
4. Yes. There are even private "Good Samaritans" who try to make a difference for those less fortunate.
5. If there is no assistance, people beg for handouts or commit illegal acts.
6. Not just "No", but "Hell, No!". I used to give money to those in need, until one of them overdosed and died soon after I had given him the cash he said he needed to pay his gas bill and get the heat turned back on. Now, The help I give to others is more practical and relevant to their immediate needs - food, transportation, et cetera.
8. Ban fast food dealers and liquor stores.

1. Where do you live (country, state, or continental region, such as south Asia/east Europe/etc.)?
Germany

2. Is there any type of food that is common in other parts of the world that is hard to get in your area for reasons other than the local climate?
No, I guess you can get pretty much everything here. I live in a big city and here it's very easy to find all types of food.

3. Are fruits and vegetables affordable for most people in your area?
Yes.

4. Is there governmental or charity assistance for people who can't afford food?
Yes. When you are very poor, you can get governmental assistance to pay your rent and cover your basic needs, but people get also a lot of pressure when they are in this program, too. Also, this system is not well balanced - a single person can get on well enough with that money they get, but for families it's not enough. The more children, the more poverty (and at the same time the government is complaining that many Germans don't want to have children...). So, those people need additional assistance, which is organized privately.

5. Can people afford quality, nutritious food with this assistance? If there is no assistance, how do poor people eat?
Well, when someone lives on their own, they can, if they do without some other things. A family with more than one or two children can't. They won't have to go hungry, but they won't have fresh, quality food.

6. Do you think people use this assistance well (for example, do they buy junk food or overly expensive items)?
Yes, I think so.
Of course, there are some people who spend much money on alcohol and cigarettes, but that's not a majority from what I know. Especially parents normally do what they can for their children. And I'd even assume that's true for every place in the world. It's just human.
I also think, not every person always makes the best decisions with their money. That's just natural. Not everybody is a born accountant, right?
However, media and politics love to make us believe a majority of poor people misuses the money they get. So they make sure we focus our anger on those below us, and don't get angry at the so-called 1% (or less) who often misuse millions instead of that little amount of welfare money.

7. Is there anything you would like to change about food issues in your area (such as outdoor markets, childhood nutrition, cleanliness regulations, etc.)
Yes! Childhood nutrition programs would be great, I think. And the social welfare should be extended for families, especially for single moms/dads and their kids, who live almost always in poverty.

I think every community should have a place for community gardening Apartment communities and condominiums specifically should have an open area that everyone can use to grow food. Group gardening should be encouraged in every metropolitan area. More food is grown from the ground in the United States to feed the animals that human beings eat than is grown for human beings to eat. And far too much fruit, vegetables and grains are wasted. Gardening should be taught in every school in the world as early in childhood as possible.