Pandemic Reveals Vulnerabilities in Food Access: Confronting Hunger Amidst a Crisis

Emergencies and disasters often expose existing flaws in our systems. As Warren Buffet said, “It’s only when the tide goes out that you discover who’s been swimming naked” (Emanuel 2020). We have been swimming in the buff. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed systemic vulnerabilities in food access for people experiencing hunger. Simultaneously, it has revealed opportunities to strengthen food access. Working with Hunger Task Force (HTF), an antihunger nonprofit that operates a food bank in Milwaukee and advocates for local, state, and federal policy to end hunger (Bublitz et al. 2019), we outline three lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and raise policy and research questions related to ensuring food access for all.

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Melissa G. Bublitz, Natalie Czarkowski, Jonathan Hansen, and Laura A. Peracchio (2020). Pandemic Reveals Vulnerabilities in Food Access: Confronting Hunger Amidst a Crisis. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 0(0), Pages 0. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0743915620929998