In the reading “Foodmaps: Tracing Boundaries of ‘home’ through Food Relations”, the quote “My family did not get bags of rice, beans, and powdered milk from the Balaguer government (1970s), we did it out of principle, since they used to play with the hunger of the people . . . ” arises. Can you think of any examples of a nation’s government that purposefully did not or does not provide food sufficiently for its people?

The reading also mentions that one immigrant woman saw people crying on trains and one day she cried from sadness of the immigrant struggles. Although there were losses, there were gains, she stated, such as becoming a citizen and doing what she could for her children. Do immigrants primarily keep going even when they’re struggling so as to benefit their children, or do you think there is another dominant reason?