A Place at the Table (2012)

           America likes to boast that it's the world's richest country and biggest food producer. True enough. But in this documentary about "food insecurity," we learn that the United States is dead last among the advanced economies of the IMF in feeding its own people. There are 50 million people, including 1 out of 4 children, who suffer food insecurity in America. From coast to coast there are thousands of "food deserts" where it is virtually impossible for a person to find fresh produce, because it's not economically viable for agribusiness to deliver to their small towns (which phenomenon explains why hunger and obesity go together). The number of food banks and soup kitchens has skyrocketed in the last few decades, which is just what many legislators want — let private charity and not government policy solve this shameful problem. The movie focuses on three stories from the working poor: a fifth grader in Colorado, a single mother and her two kids in Philadelphia, and a second-grader in Mississippi, along with experts and advocates like actor Jeff Bridges. I watched this infuriating film on Comcast's "On Demand." It's only 86 minutes and would make for excellent family viewing.