Fasting For Food Legislation

When Mark Bittman speaks about the massive food issues facing the world, people listen. When Bittman goes on a fast, news outlets across the country stampede to his doorstep. Bittman, a man who eats for a living, is fasting not for a quick detox from his gastronome lifestyle but rather in support of the consumption of food. Sound anomalous? Well, many believe House budget bill H.R.1 is as well. It’s a highly controversial piece of legislation that would make substantial cuts to programs that feed the hungry and underprivileged in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy.

Bittman was not alone in his four day “fast for a cause,” with top labor and progressive leaders, religious organizations, activist groups, and many more participating in a collaborative effort to shine a spotlight on the inherent inequity of the cuts being considered by Congress. Bittman passionately wrote in his column for The New York Times,

“This is a moral issue; the budget is a moral document…we can sink further into debt and amoral individualism by demonizing and starving the poor… We need to gather and insist that our collective resources be used for our collective welfare, not for the wealthiest thousand or even million Americans but for a vast majority of us in the United States and, indeed, for citizens of the world who have difficulty making ends meet. Or feeding their kids.”

For a video of Bittman speaking about his fast [CNN]

For more on Bittman’s fasting experience [New York Times]