Policy Press

Hunger Pains

Life inside Foodbank Britain

By Kayleigh Garthwaite

Published

Jun 14, 2016

Page count

176 pages

ISBN

978-1447329114

Dimensions

216 x 138 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Jun 14, 2016

Page count

176 pages

ISBN

978-1447329138

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Jun 14, 2016

Page count

176 pages

ISBN

978-1447329145

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press
Hunger Pains

WINNER OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY PETER TOWNSEND PRIZE 2017

Welcome to Foodbank Britain, where emergency food provision is an increasingly visible and controversial feature of ongoing austerity. We know the statistics, but what does it feel like to be forced to turn to foodbanks for help? What does it take to get emergency food, and what's in the food parcel?

Kayleigh Garthwaite conducted hundreds of hours of interviews while working in a Trussell Trust foodbank. She spoke to people like Anna and her 11 year old daughter Daisy who were eating out of date food since Anna left her job due to mental health problems. Glen explained the shame he felt using the foodbank having taken on a zero hours contract. Pregnant Jessica walked two miles to the foodbank because she couldn't afford public transport.

This provocative book provides a much needed voice for foodbank users and volunteers in the UK, and a powerful insight into the realities of foodbank use from the inside.

Dr Kayleigh Garthwaite is a Birmingham Fellow in the School of Social Policy, Sociology and Criminology, University of Birmingham, UK. Kayleigh explores issues of poverty, stigma and welfare reform through qualitative and ethnographic research. She is author of Hunger Pains: life inside foodbank Britain (Policy Press, 2016) and co-author of Poverty and insecurity: Life in 'low-pay, no-pay' Britain (Policy Press, 2012), winners of the Peter Townsend Prize 2017 and 2013 respectively. She can be followed on Twitter @KA_Garthwaite

Foreword Jack Monroe

Introduction

Researching foodbank use

Foodbanks: what do they do?

The politics of foodbank use in the UK

Why do people use a foodbank?

All work, low pay: finding, keeping, and doing precarious jobs

‘Doing the best I can with what I’ve got’: food and health on a low income

Stigma, shame and ‘people like us’

Is foodbank Britain here to stay?

Afterword Linda Tirado