What It Means to Go Hungry

A controversial new government report has excised the term "hunger" altogether in favor of more supposedly accurate measurements. But sometimes words have a power that statistics do not.

Since Thanksgiving is the day we count our blessings instead of our carbs, it is a ripe moment to talk about hunger.

Or perhaps, to talk about how we talk about hunger.

When the government released its annual survey on Household Food Security in the United States last week, as it has every year since 1995, there was for the first time a word missing — a very important word. The report stated that about 35 million Americans sometimes don't always know where their next meal will come from, and a third of those sometimes experience "very low food security." But as of this year, the word "hunger" no longer applies.