Food

Taco Bowls and Chicken Curry: Medi-Cal Delivers Ready Meals in Grand Health Care Experiment

In California's Inland Empire, where many residents have diabetes, a health plan is delivering healthy, prepared meals to those lucky enough to get them.

  • By Angela Hart and Heidi de Marco, Kaiser Health News

Code for America Unveils First States in Safety Net Cohort

The nonprofit aims to help states build digital tools and services to connect people with health, food assistance and other benefits programs. 

  • By Stephanie Kanowitz

Distrust Keeps Families on SNAP From Buying Groceries Online

COMMENTARY | When buying groceries online, families eligible for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits are less likely to purchase both healthy foods, like fruits and vegetables, and sweets, a new study shows.

  • By Jade McClain-NYU , Futurity

Agriculture Department Offers Grants To Improve SNAP

The USDA says that the grants fall in line with administration priorities around equity and inclusion, as well as improving the customer experience of Americans interacting with government programs.

  • By Natalie Alms

Surviving Small Restaurants Push Forward as Pandemic Ebbs

At least 10 states introduced or passed bills this session to help restaurants.

  • By Aallyah Wright, Stateline

Mayors Call on Congress to Extend Expiring Pandemic Era Food Aid

Millions could lose food stamp benefits with the end of the federal Covid-19 public health emergency this summer.

  • By Kery Murakami

As Inflation Drives Up Prices, State Lawmakers Eye Cutting Food and Sales Taxes

More than a dozen states are considering such cuts, as others eye income tax reductions.

  • By Liz Farmer

What Does It Say About Your Neighborhood If the Supermarket Isn’t So Super?

COMMENTARY | A mother-and-daughter team went comparison-shopping to see what grocery store shelves revealed about inequity in America.

  • By Chaseedaw Giles, Kaiser Health News

About 1 in 3 Child Care Workers Are Going Hungry

Child care workers are at the center of the food insecurity crisis in America. In 2020, nearly one-third of them were food insecure.

  • By Colin Page McGinnis  , The Conversation

USDA Offers $1.5B to Help With School Meal Supply Chain Struggles

School nutrition officials have flagged concerns about rising costs and goods shortages.

  • By Bill Lucia

Plastic Trash in the Ocean Is a Global Problem, and the US Is the Top Source

An estimated 8 million metric tons of plastic waste enters the ocean each year – equivalent to dumping in a garbage truckload of it every minute. A new report calls on the US to help stem the deluge.

  • By Matthew Savoca Anna Robuck and Lauren Kashiwabara, The Conversation

Food Delivery Robots Gaining Popularity

The emerging technology poses regulatory questions for state and local governments.

  • By Andre Claudio
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‘Am I Even Fit To Be a Mom?’ Diaper Need Is an Invisible Part of Poverty in America

Parents cannot use federal aid to pay for diapers, and are often forced to come up with other solutions, using maxi pads or towels to keep their children clean and dry. In rural America where aid is even harder to access, tiny diaper banks are the only lifeline.

  • By Chabeli Carrazana, The 19th

As Food Banks Struggle to Feed More Families at Thanksgiving, Localities Step Up to Help

Food shortages and soaring prices have hampered many charities' ability to collect and buy enough items. Municipal governments are investing new federal funds to boost these efforts.

  • By Andre Claudio

Top 10 Spookiest Towns to Visit for Halloween

Sleepy Hollow, New York tops the list, but most famous is Salem, Massachusetts.

  • By Andre Claudio

Tax or Treat! State Laws on Candy Taxation Vary Wildly

Whether you pay tax on your Halloween treat supply depends on which state you live in and how it defines candy.

  • By Hayes Holderness, The Conversation

How Food Became the Perfect Beachhead for Gentrification

COMMENTARY | Ethnic food is cheap, and it appeals to adventurous eaters. Real estate agents and investors have caught on.

  • By Pascale Joassart-Marcelli, The Conversation

Data Show Rise in Households Struggling to Afford Food For Kids

But the new federal statistics also reveal food insecurity among children in 2020 didn't reach levels seen during the last recession.

  • By Bill Lucia

40M Americans to Get Major Boost in Food Assistance Benefits

Aid provided through the nation’s largest food assistance program will increase by upwards of 25% beginning in October, the Biden administration announced.

  • By Bill Lucia

Wisconsin Doesn’t Have a State Cheese, and Some Lawmakers Think That’s No Gouda

Colby, a cheese created in Wisconsin, could be the state’s first official cheese under a proposal under consideration in the legislature. But some lawmakers have reservations.

  • By Kate Elizabeth Queram

One-Fourth of Low-Income Immigrant Households Avoided Public Benefits in 2020

Despite financial hardships brought on by the pandemic, some households did not seek benefits because of concerns due in part to the Trump administration’s “public charge” rule.

  • By Andrea Noble