Food Costs | Economics

Let Them Skip Meals: The Cost of a Full Stomach

‘Let them eat cake’ taken to a whole new level

Food should not be out of reach just because you don’t have money. | Photo by on

Have you ever had your card declined for lack of funds?

Have you ever stared at the food in front of you, all $8 worth of it and heard the dreadful sound that tells you that you can’t afford to quiet your growling stomach?

I have. It’s an awful feeling, and years later I still haven’t forgotten the way my stomach twisted with shame and hunger.

I was a student at the time, and my first year of college was roughing me up. It’s a costly endeavour to go to a craft and design school — that ‘starving artist’ trope is no freaking joke!

Thankfully, I was fortunate enough to have both a support structure to lean on, and a close friendship with the owner of the restaurant. It was in the same building as my school lecture hall; the only place to get food anywhere nearby.

Even if I had no funds that morning, I could always count on dinner with my mother, and my friend was more than willing to keep the receipt and let me pay her back for my breakfast when I had the cash.

And you can bet that I did; as soon as my student loan came in, I went back for lunch and brought a friend. She got…