Hipsters on Food Stamps

[Play The Man]

http://www.salon.com/life/pinched/20...hed/index.html

Hipsters on food stamps
They're young, they're broke, and they pay for organic salmon with government subsidies. Got a problem with that?
By Jennifer Bleyer


In the John Waters-esque sector of northwest Baltimore -- equal parts kitschy, sketchy, artsy and weird -- Gerry Mak and Sarah Magida sauntered through a small ethnic market stocked with Japanese eggplant, mint chutney and fresh turmeric. After gathering ingredients for that evening's dinner, they walked to the cash register and awaited their moments of truth.

"I have $80 bucks left!" Magida said. "I'm so happy!"

"I have $12," Mak said with a frown.

The two friends weren't tabulating the cash in their wallets but what remained of the monthly allotment on their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program debit cards, the official new term for what are still known colloquially as food stamps.

Magida, a 30-year-old art school graduate, had been installing museum exhibits for a living until the recession caused arts funding -- and her usual gigs -- to dry up. She applied for food stamps last summer, and since then she's used her $150 in monthly benefits for things like fresh produce, raw honey and fresh-squeezed juices from markets near her house in the neighborhood of Hampden, and soy meat alternatives and gourmet ice cream from a Whole Foods a few miles away.

"I'm eating better than I ever have before," she told me. "Even with food stamps, it's not like I'm living large, but it helps."

Mak, 31, grew up in Westchester, graduated from the University of Chicago and toiled in publishing in New York during his 20s before moving to Baltimore last year with a meager part-time blogging job and prospects for little else. About half of his friends in Baltimore have been getting food stamps since the economy toppled, so he decided to give it a try; to his delight, he qualified for $200 a month.

"I'm sort of a foodie, and I'm not going to do the 'living off ramen' thing," he said, fondly remembering a recent meal he'd prepared of roasted rabbit with butter, tarragon and sweet potatoes. "I used to think that you could only get processed food and government cheese on food stamps, but it's great that you can get anything."

Think of it as the effect of a grinding recession crossed with the epicurean tastes of young people as obsessed with food as previous generations were with music and sex. Faced with lingering unemployment, 20- and 30-somethings with college degrees and foodie standards are shaking off old taboos about who should get government assistance and discovering that government benefits can indeed be used for just about anything edible, including wild-caught fish, organic asparagus and triple-crème cheese.

Food policy experts and human resource administrators are quick to point out that the overwhelming majority of the record 38 million Americans now using food stamps are their traditional recipients: the working poor, the elderly and single parents on welfare.

But they also note that recent changes made to the program as part of last year's stimulus package, which relaxed the restrictions on able-bodied adults without dependents to collect food stamps, have made some young singles around the country eligible for the first time.

"There are many 20-somethings from educated families who go through a period of unemployment and live very frugally, maybe even technically in poverty, who now qualify," said Parke Wilde, a food economist at Tufts University who has written extensively about food stamp usage and policy.

The increase in food stamp use among this demographic is hard to measure, as they represent a cross section of characteristics not specifically tracked by the Agriculture Department, which administers the program.

But general unemployment figures among the group are stark: Between the ends of 2007 and 2009, unemployment among those aged 20 to 34 rose 100 percent, and between 2006 and 2009, unemployment among those with a bachelor's degree or higher was up 179 percent.

And in cities that are magnets for 20- and 30-something creatives and young professionals, the kinds of food markets that specialize in delectables like artisanal bread, heirloom tomatoes and grass-fed beef have seen significant upticks in food stamp payments among their typical shoppers. At the Wedge, a market in the stylish Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis; at New Seasons Market, a series of nine specialty stores in and around Portland, Ore.; and at Rainbow Grocery, a stalwart for food lovers in San Francisco's Mission District, food stamp purchases have doubled in the past year.

"The use has gone way up in the last six months," said Eric Wilcox, a cashier who has worked at Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco for 10 years. "We're seeing a lot more young people in their 20s purchasing organic food with food stamp cards. I wouldn't say it's limited to hipster people, but I'm certainly surprised to see them with cards."

Young urbanites with a taste for ciabatta may legitimately be among the new poor, but their participation in the program is far from universally accepted. A New York Times story in late November about the program's explosive growth generated a storm of comments online, with many readers lobbing familiar accusations of laziness and irresponsibility.

But there seems to be a special strain of ire reserved for those like the self-described "30-something, unemployed, ex-fashionista, EBT armed, post-hipster, downtown mom" from New York who, in January, drew nearly 500 comments on the Web site Urbanbaby.com, many seething with fury at her for trying to maintain the trappings of a materialistic, cosmopolitan life while using an Electronic Benefit Transfer card -- food stamps -- to feed her family. (Her blog is now password-protected.)

"You're hosting dinner parties and buying cases of wine -- on taxpayers' money!" one person wrote. "Your attitude is so objectionable that you're like a trainwreck; it's hard to look away." (One cannot, in fact, buy wine with food stamps, though dinner party ingredients are fair game.)

And on the blog Stuff Unemployed People Like, along with "not showering regularly" and "sleeping in while your significant other goes to work," a post last year touted "buying Perrier with food stamps" and sarcastically claimed that "the fancier the food, the more glee there is in knowing the government has once again helped in enabling a lavish lifestyle." Of the reader responses that poured in, many were food stamp users who defended their shopping choices (including, yes, Perrier) while others attacked them.

"While one person works their butt off," one wrote, "another is just waiting in line so they can recieve [sic] their 'luxury' food stamps and recieve [sic] basically whatever they want."

But among young food stamp recipients I spoke with, there's less glee than traces of embarrassment about their situations; few want to be seen handing over applications at the human resource office, and they can be sheepish about presenting their snap cards in a checkout line.

Josh Ankerberg, a 26-year-old who lives in Brooklyn, N.Y., started getting food stamps a year ago as an AmeriCorps volunteer, a group that has long had special dispensation to qualify for them, and he has continued using them while he job hunts. He uses his $200 in monthly benefits at Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and a local farmer's market to maintain his self-described healthy flexitarian diet, and notes that two of his roommates -- a graduate student in poetry and an underemployed cook, both in their 20s -- also started getting food stamps in the past two months, as have other friends and acquaintances.

Still, Ankerberg said, "There's a sort of uneasiness about it. A few friends that are artists in Williamsburg are like, 'Don't say we're on food stamps too loudly. Just keep it between you and me.'"

At the same time, there seems to be little moral quandary about collecting a benefit traditionally thought of as intended for the downtrodden. In a nondiscriminating recession that laid waste almost across the board, the feeling is that anyone who meets the near-poverty level requirements for collecting food stamps shouldn't feel guilty about doing so.

Controversy about how they use food stamps marks an interesting shift from the classic critique that the program subsidizes diets laden with soda pop and junk food. But from that perspective, food stamp-using foodies might be applauded for demonstrating that one can, indeed, eat healthy and make delicious home-cooked meals on a tight budget.

And while they might be questioned for viewing premium ingredients as a necessity, it could also be argued that they're eating the best and most conscious way they know how. They are often cooking at home. They are using fresh ingredients. This is, after all, a generation steeped in Michael Pollan books, bountiful farmer's markets and a fetish for all things sustainable and handcrafted. Is it wrong to believe there should be a local, free-range chicken in every Le Creuset pot?

At Magida's brick row house in Baltimore, she and Mak minced garlic while observing that one of the upsides of unemployment was having plenty of time to cook elaborate meals, and that among their friends, they had let go of any bad feelings about how their food was procured.

"It's not a thing people feel ashamed of, at least not around here," said Mak. "It feels like a necessity right now."

Savory aromas wafted through the kitchen as a table was set with a heaping plate of Thai yellow curry with coconut milk and lemongrass, Chinese gourd sautéed in hot chile sauce and sweet clementine juice, all of it courtesy of government assistance.

"At first, I thought, 'Why should I be on food stamps?'" said Magida, digging into her dinner. "Here I am, this educated person who went to art school, and there are a lot of people who need them more. But then I realized, I need them, too."

I think I just had a stroke. I am being very thrifty with my money in order to better provide for my children and these spoiled, entitled liberals are enjoying gourmet meals on my dime!

[flo]

So goes the tale of entitlements.

Originally Posted by flo

So goes the tale of entitlements.

Well said

[MattHughesRocks]

I'm not sure if I get the problem...is it that they are on food stamps period or that they are eating healthy food?

[flo]

Originally Posted by Silverback

Well said

Aww, that's nice.

[flo]

These were the paragraphs that stood out to me.

Food policy experts and human resource administrators are quick to point out that the overwhelming majority of the record 38 million Americans now using food stamps are their traditional recipients: the working poor, the elderly and single parents on welfare.

But they also note that recent changes made to the program as part of last year's stimulus package, which relaxed the restrictions on able-bodied adults without dependents to collect food stamps, have made some young singles around the country eligible for the first time.

........

And in cities that are magnets for 20- and 30-something creatives and young professionals, the kinds of food markets that specialize in delectables like artisanal bread, heirloom tomatoes and grass-fed beef have seen significant upticks in food stamp payments among their typical shoppers.

"The use has gone way up in the last six months," said Eric Wilcox, a cashier who has worked at Rainbow Grocery in San Francisco for 10 years. "We're seeing a lot more young people in their 20s purchasing organic food with food stamp cards. I wouldn't say it's limited to hipster people, but I'm certainly surprised to see them with cards."

I have a friend whose husband is often deployed; they have 4 kids and I'm sure she'd love to have some artisan ciabatta, grass-fed beef and Perrier. She sent me her Cooking Light magazines as she couldn't afford to make those recipes, I think this article would put her through the roof too.

For me, it's not so much what they bought with their food stamps - oh wait, must use the PC wording - Electronic Transfer Benefit Card, but that they even GET food stamps. I was unemployed at different times when I was in my 20's and I did draw unemployment but never considered applying for food stamps. And with benefits being extended to 90 weeks (or something like that) I think there's no reason for these single kids to be using a government subsidy that was meant to help people in dire need.

Shane just posted recently that his family is going through a very rough time but I'd be willing to bet they aren't shopping at Whole Foods.

OK, rant over.

[Play The Man]

Originally Posted by flo

These were the paragraphs that stood out to me.



I have a friend whose husband is often deployed; they have 4 kids and I'm sure she'd love to have some artisan ciabatta, grass-fed beef and Perrier. She sent me her Cooking Light magazines as she couldn't afford to make those recipes, I think this article would put her through the roof too.

For me, it's not so much what they bought with their food stamps - oh wait, must use the PC wording - Electronic Transfer Benefit Card, but that they even GET food stamps. I was unemployed at different times when I was in my 20's and I did draw unemployment but never considered applying for food stamps. And with benefits being extended to 90 weeks (or something like that) I think there's no reason for these single kids to be using a government subsidy that was meant to help people in dire need.

Shane just posted recently that his family is going through a very rough time but I'd be willing to bet they aren't shopping at Whole Foods.

OK, rant over.

I agree with your rant. Do you think our soldiers are getting "gourmet ice cream", "fresh-squeezed juice", "roasted rabbit with butter, tarragon and sweet potatoes", "Perrier", "artisanal bread, heirloom tomatoes, and grass-fed beef"? I would bet that the menu is more likely to be a MRE or S**t on a Shingle.

Our national debt is currently at:

We do not need to be buying gourmet food for entitled hipsters.

Originally Posted by Play The Man;

I think I just had a stroke. I am being very thrifty with my money in order to better provide for my children and these spoiled, entitled liberals are enjoying gourmet meals on my dime!

What makes them spoiled? If they were conservatives would you feel different? Do you think it's wrong to eat healthy or organic? Should they be limited to unhealthy processed food instead? I imagine that would simply create health problems like HBP, elevated HCL and obesity. Is paying their medical bills a better alternative? It's not your dime. In one way or another everybody pays into that coffer including the people using the benefits.

Originally Posted by flo

I have a friend whose husband is often deployed; they have 4 kids and I'm sure she'd love to have some artisan ciabatta, grass-fed beef and Perrier. She sent me her Cooking Light magazines as she couldn't afford to make those recipes, I think this article would put her through the roof too.

For me, it's not so much what they bought with their food stamps - oh wait, must use the PC wording - Electronic Transfer Benefit Card, but that they even GET food stamps. I was unemployed at different times when I was in my 20's and I did draw unemployment but never considered applying for food stamps. And with benefits being extended to 90 weeks (or something like that) I think there's no reason for these single kids to be using a government subsidy that was meant to help people in dire need.

Shane just posted recently that his family is going through a very rough time but I'd be willing to bet they aren't shopping at Whole Foods.

OK, rant over.

Having an able bodied single person qualify for benefits is a little unsettling I would agree with that but your beef () should be with the system in place and those that put it there. Not with the people receiving the benefits.

Originally Posted by Play The Man

I agree with your rant. Do you think our soldiers are getting "gourmet ice cream", "fresh-squeezed juice", "roasted rabbit with butter, tarragon and sweet potatoes", "Perrier", "artisanal bread, heirloom tomatoes, and grass-fed beef"? I would bet that the menu is more likely to be a MRE or S**t on a Shingle.

We do not need to be buying gourmet food for entitled hipsters.

I've never served in the military so I could be wrong on this but unless our soldiers are actively in combat or were left behind in WWII I'm pretty sure they aren't eating SOS or MRE's all that often. It's my understanding that most of our bases including the ones on foreign soil (Middle East included) are serving our soldiers satisfactory food.

This may be the first time I've ever disagreed with either one of you but in this case I not only disagree with your comments I'm a little disappointed in them.

IF these people qualify for food stamps than they should be able to use them any way they choose. To have it any other way would simply mean more government control in our lives. There is often this mindset when it comes to Welfare that "we" are paying for "them" and it's simply not true. Not everybody on public assistance is a dead beat or a crack head. I find it surprising that you would not only judge the people written about in this article but actually be in favor of MORE government control than we already have now.

Do you think they should have to live on bread and water? Only generic foods? All I really took from the article was that they are eating healthy and I really don't see a problem with that. If you think the eligibility requirement for aid are too low then your argument should be with the government and not the people receiving the help.

[Play The Man]

Chuck, I don't see anything wrong or "disappointing" in what I wrote or what Flo wrote.

The article was about "Hipsters on Food Stamps" not about children dying of kwashiorkor. The food stamp rules were changed by Obama as part of his stimulus package - they were meant as a stimulus to the economy, not as a response to people dying of hunger. If you are aware of a pre-Obama epidemic of starvation among poetry grad students please post the links.

The article is about "foodies". These people are obsessed with food as a status symbol; they are not primarily concerned about the health effects. There is no significant nutritional difference between Perrier and tap water. The effect of eating organic produce vs. regular produce on one's life span is likewise doubtful. Generally, people that are feasting on gourmet ice cream and game basted in butter are not that concerned about their cholesterol. These people are food snobs, not health food fanatics.

I have never used food stamps but I have had my food paid for by others. Numerous times we have been invited to dinner at restaurants by other couples. We, of course, offer to pay, but when the other couple offers the invitation, they usually pay. Usually the couples we dine with are not wealthy, they are of modest means. By your logic, since they offered to pay, should I feel no compunction about ordering Kobe beef, Lobster and a bottle of Chateau Lafite Rothschild? Instead, I skip the appetizer, don't order a drink of alcohol, skip dessert and order a modestly priced chicken dinner in order to keep the bill low. Because others are paying for the meal, I deny myself and order inexpensive options.

Similarly, I have had expense accounts for meals. The non-profit corporation was worth billions. Still, I didn't run up a bill with extravagant food and drink selections. I kept my selections modest because I was spending other people's money.

It is common parlance for a taxpayer to refer to "my dime" as referring, in general, to taxpayer money. I don't think anyone (including me) was under the impression that a single taxpayer funds the food stamp program.

We don't shop at Whole Foods. I went one time and bought a cupcake for my child. When I went to the register and found out the price, we never went back again. We shop at Costco, Wal-mart and our local discount grocery store. I find it ironic that the guy on food stamps says he is a foodie who doesn't do the "living off ramen' thing" while my cupboard has Ichiban chicken-flavored Saimin (aka ramen noodles) and I am looking at a six figure tax bill.

I have no problem helping needy people buy food. I donate to the local food bank and donate to the local rescue mission/soup kitchen. I have a problem with people supposedly in dire circumstances purchasing food like they are a critic on the Food Channel. I am not even necessarily saying that the purchases have to be below the level of the average American; however, they certainly shouldn't be above.

By the way, I don't have a beef with you. If you have a beef with me that is ok . . . just don't make it a grass-fed beef.

[flo]

Having an able bodied single person qualify for benefits is a little unsettling I would agree with that but your beef () should be with the system in place and those that put it there. Not with the people receiving the benefits.

Chuck, I guess my beef is with both because I was raised to work hard and not accept a hand-out simply because it's there. Yes, I'm sure a few single young people really need it but I know there are lots that just want "their share" of the entitlements.

There is always that element, sadly. A person close to me was complaining about not getting the tax rebate that a lot of people received a few years ago (I think it was $600, IIRC). I told them "but you didn't get it because you make too much money". They didn't appreciate the comment as they thought it was their due and I was sad because I thought they were kind of greedy.