Hungry for Change in New York

Food is at the core of human survival – it can be at the heart of a family’s traditions and the key to a nation’s cultural identity.

It has also been the source of war, conflict and devastation. Natural disasters can wipe out the food supply of an entire country but what happens when you live in the largest economy in the world, where food is ever abundant and yet you may still go to bed at night hungry?

Nineteen-year-old Chima, a homeless Nigerian immigrant, takes us on a journey through New York City to reveal what it means to be truly food insecure in the land of plenty. In his own neighbourhood he shows us what unhealthy food choices most of the poor must make each day and how part of the solution may be growing just around the corner.

“In making this film we wanted to explore the impact of the food insecurity crisis in New York on those least able to navigate the impact. Going through the city we frequently see fashionably new, expensive restaurants opening with full houses night after night, while just a few blocks over soup kitchens are seeing the desperate crowds returning day after day. In the newest, trendiest grocery stores fresh, organic produce packs the aisles, while in poor neighbourhoods store aisles are packed only with an overabundance of cheap processed food.” By David Turner