Chapter 1 Origin of foodbank

Chapter 1 Origin of foodbank

Foodbank is an organisation who help the poor who cannot afford the food. There is no official definition of the foodbank. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a food bank is a place where food is given to people who do not have enough money to buy it, for example, by a charity. (Oxford Dictionary, 2020) Depends on the degree of perception, foodbank users usually are glad to receive. As for some people, the existence of foodbank is an intensely divisive image, an uncomfortable underbelly of austerity often in touching distance of conspicuous wealth. (BBC News, 2017) Well, social stigma still exists for those using foodbank, even ex-Prime Minister, Theresa May struggle to answer about foodbank. (Independent, 2017)

Since foodbank provides foods to vulnerable, we are not arguably will relate to poverty and poor law in workhouses and rationing during wartimes for civilians in the United Kingdom. How the foodbank from a ration stamp or ration card, a “physical” permit which is issued by the government, to “verbal” permit where you need a referral to a food bank. (Citizensadvice, 2020) To understand fully foodbank, I gather some historical reading on foodbank origin related matters and the formation of food bank today. I started my research on a lot of poor matters because mostly foodbank users are poor. It’s always related with people basic need. If someone lack of it, here we see the vulnerable who suffers colds, hungers, homeless or inability to work in a city. (Grófová and Srnec, 2012)

As a famous saying in ancient Chinese, clothing, food, housing, and transport are translated as “衣食住行“ (Yi Shi Zhu Xing) as where it means the basic needs of life. We are what we eat. Food is one of the most singularly important factors in overall health. Without food, you can’t survived. It is important just like breathing. The food we eat literally becomes who we are, and influences our physical, mental and even emotional well-being.

Figure 1: Universal Credit is a United Kingdom social security payment.

There are now 4 million British workers living in poverty according to Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). (How poverty in modern Britain echoes the past, 2020) After the government launched Universal Credit, which combines six benefits with a single monthly charge, the rising of rough sleepers and foodbanks demands. (Figure 1) This is less of a 'turning point' than a “re-turning point” for suffering in the United Kingdom (UK) especially during these pandemic. Workhouses in past to the present, the causes of poverty and the extent still remain same.