This Week's HuffPost Family Dinner Download: Giving Thanks While Many Americans Go Hungry

In her new book, The Family Dinner, Laurie David talks about the importance of families making a ritual of sitting down to dinner together, and how family dinners offer a great opportunity for meaningful discussions about the day's news. "Dinner," she says, "is as much about digestible conversation as it is about delicious food."

We couldn't agree more. So HuffPost has joined with Laurie to launch a new feature we're calling HuffPost Family Dinner Downloads. Every Friday afternoon, just in time for dinner, our editors highlight one of the most compelling news stories of the week -- stories that will spark a lively discussion among the whole family.

The family can gather around the laptop, smartphone, or iPad -- or just print out the post and pass it around the table. Each Dinner Download will end with a question or two that we hope will get everyone thinking and sharing their thoughts, feelings, and opinions.

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This week we celebrate Thanksgiving -- a nation coming together for coast-to-coast family dinners -- and putting thoughts on food front and center.

And while most of us will celebrate with heaping plates of turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie and all the traditional fixings, a lot of Americans will struggle to get enough to eat. Did you know that 50 million Americans are often unable to put food on their tables -- the most in years?

And did you know that the average American family throws out at least $1,350 worth of food every year? To give you an idea how much food that is, picture the 90,000 seat Rose Bowl in Southern California (here's a photo). Now imagine that giant stadium filled to the brim not with football fans, but with food. Tons and tons of food. That is how much food America wastes every single day. Yep, you read that right: every single day. The thought of that is enough to spoil anyone's appetite.

How can a country that is facing an obesity crisis, also have so many people going hungry? What kinds of things do you think we should do to make sure everyone in America has enough to eat? Have you wasted food this year? Do you think most people you know take having three meals a day (and a snack or two!) for granted? Do you sometimes put more on your plate than you need, and end up throwing food away? When was the last time you were really hungry? How did it make you feel? Are there kids at your school who you think sometimes don't have enough to eat? Do you think it's their fault?

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To see last week's Family Dinner Download, click here.

Subscribe to receive HuffPost Family Dinner Downloads by email every Friday afternoon.

For more tips and recipes, check out The Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect with Your Kids, One Meal at a Time by Laurie David and Kirstin Uhrenholdt.

Comments

[Susan Axelrod]

05:51 PM on 12/01/2010

All of us at Love and Quiches Desserts are blessed with having enough of to eat during the holiday season, but we never take what we have for granted. That is why we were so happy to initiate our “Cake for Kids” program, to make sure that so many children are able to celebrate their special day with a birthday cake baked just for them! We donate hundreds of cakes each month for these children to enjoy and share with their friends, and hope to expand the program even further in the future. For more information, check out the Love and Quiches website or my blog Susan's Sweet Talk. Love and Quiches Desserts is privileged to share its plenty with those of us not as fortunate.

[Ozark Homesteader]

05:41 PM on 11/25/2010

Often the obese in the US today are also the impoverished. Corporate policy has made grocery stores with healthy foods endangered species in poor neighborhoods. Federal policy has made fruits and vegetables more expensive than junk food. We can do much by changing policy.

[Steve Davis 1]

09:14 AM on 11/25/2010

I give thanks for the warmth and love that will gather at our table this afternoon. I have just finished with my preparations and will soon have to concentrate on getting out of sweat pants to look more respectable. My wife will soon get up and take over until gravy and turkey carving time. My son home from college will get up at least in time for dinner at 1. I can not solve all the world's problems, but I give thanks I support being a part of a better future. I reflect on my shortcomings and as part of a great nation our problems. I believe you grow the good in the world starting in your own home.

[glossy go]

05:15 AM on 11/25/2010

there's something even more troubling than food, and nobody talks about it. how did the US get a 'welfare' system where hipsters shop at whole foods, as they say, on aid cards, but: if you are single, no kids, worked in a bank five years, don't have hypertension: you cannot buy soap. or tissues, paper towels, shampoo, toothpaste, tampons. why has nobody complained out loud in this 'new' crisis where ex-professionals are seeking aid and food banks? does this mean the 'old' welfare recipients either had cash pre-clinton, or they're all on disability so they qualify for cash? another question: the social service agencies - or human services - do not offer a bus pass or gas mileage. so how is anybody supposed to get a job, say, the 99ers who exhaust unemployment and end up on aid? by the way, the way to get a cell phone for anybody on aid is safelink.com. i'll probably post this on a couple threads cause i don't see anybody on aid asking for soap - do they all have parents and family to fall back on? they all say they're in terror of losing unemployment - well, how are they going to buy soap or a lightbulb or get on a bus to get a new job on aid? that's what i want to know.

[glossy go]

05:23 AM on 11/25/2010

we are witnessing a family go thru this right now. they went thru a fire last year and the next day, the office closed its branch. they had no home and no job. and they had to get a new place w/out an employer ref. they got a part-time job - 2 hrs each way, 8 buses. lost that and unemployment said an employer said in 2009 that three weeks in nov 2007 they were overpaid - so they've received no employment benefits for the last 11 weeks - called penalty weeks. they can't 'prove' otherwise because any records they had are destroyed and, anyway, they were supposed to 'protest' within 30 days. they didn't even know there had been an audit.

point is, they went to the churches and the church ran them around 7x for a $20 grocery gift card, and they finally said, we can't buy soap or tissues on an aid card, and the pastor said, 'come to the church and i will wash your hands for you' and hung up.

the salvation army regional director said, 'fill the tub with soap (as if they could buy soap on aid), and stomp on your clothes' - in lieu of giving them quarters to do laundry at bubbleland.

[marijam]

06:19 AM on 11/25/2010

They don't do any of those things because they don't have cash. They are going to have to move in with family or friends, or they're going to have to make cash by selling things at yard sales or by doing simple jobs that they can get cash for.

[Jim Biggs]

04:52 AM on 11/25/2010

THE LEFTIES ARE ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT THE POOR AND NEEDY, BUT WHEN IT COMES TO ACTION, THEY COME UP SHORT conservatives donate more than lefties 5-1

typical all talk and no action, unless they are spending someone elses money.

[Olethea]

10:03 AM on 11/25/2010

Speaking of all talk and no action, care to provide any facts or links or even a description of where you get the idea that conservatives donate more?

Anything at all?

[Jim Biggs]

01:58 PM on 11/25/2010

well here are just a few.............funny when i did a search labeled do liberals donate more than conservatives nothing came up

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/03/conservatives_more_liberal_giv.html

http://magicstatistics.com/2006/11/17/religious-conservatives-donate-far-more-than-secular-liberals/

http://www.mixx.com/stories/3176302/the_new_york_times_conservatives_donate_more_to_charity_than_liberals

http://brighthall.aol.com/2008/12/22/study-conservatives-more-generous-than-liberals/

http://dailycaller.com/2010/09/23/surprise-conservatives-are-more-generous-than-liberals/

[ResearchtheFacts]

03:12 AM on 11/25/2010

This is the hardest one for me.  Another year and the same old news but worse.  Many more have hit the ranks of the unemployed and homeless.

[hey0there]

01:01 AM on 11/25/2010

Nobody in the USA is dying from hunger.

[Olethea]

10:04 AM on 11/25/2010

Wow, you are just woefully uninformed. If you care to educate yourself (doubtful), here's a place to start:

http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/?q=node/view/104

[IBWatching]

10:56 PM on 11/24/2010

I am thankful for the Liberals in America who are fighting back against Republican corporate fascism.

[ecotopian]

10:24 PM on 11/24/2010

There is a difference between being hungry between meals and being constantly hungry. When you've missed a meal, your stomach is poking at you. When you are constantly hungry, there's nothing you can do about it. You are hungry and you learn to live with it. I cannot imagine being hungry in a country where food, and the ads for it, are everywhere. Really, I can't.

You asked are there kids in our school who don't get enough to eat. Well, yeah, there are. I don't know them personally, but I know they are there. The next question irritated me. How can it be their fault? They're kids, what are they supposed to do about it? The parents might be working, but the paycheck doesn't go far enough. Don't blame them. The thing that will set me off is blaming the poor for the situation they are in.

[glossy go]

05:22 AM on 11/25/2010

we are witnessing a family go thru this right now. they went thru a fire last year and the next day, the office closed its branch. they had no home and no job. and they had to get a new place w/out an employer ref. they got a part-time job - 2 hrs each way, 8 buses. lost that and unemployment said an employer said in 2009 that three weeks in nov 2007 they were overpaid - so they've received no employment benefits for the last 11 weeks - called penalty weeks. they can't 'prove' otherwise because any records they had are destroyed and, anyway, they were supposed to 'protest' within 30 days. they didn't even know there had been an audit.

point is, they went to the churches and the church ran them around 7x for a $20 grocery gift card, and they finally said, we can't buy soap or tissues on an aid card, and the pastor said, 'come to the church and i will wash your hands for you' and hung up.

the salvation army regional director said, 'fill the tub with soap (as if they could buy soap on aid), and stomp on your clothes' - in lieu of giving them quarters to do laundry at bubbleland.

[stargazer13]

09:15 PM on 11/24/2010

I am Thankful to have a roof over my head !! I want every one to have a roof !! so many homeless ! I want every one to have warmth and a roof over their heads !

I am thankful for my wonderful Husband My six Beautiful Children My 12 very exciting grandchildren !! My passionate Mother ! who I sometimes think is crazy but some how is always right ! ~ My Good Friend ,s and their Families all over this country !! & Canada ,

I am thankful my husband is working again ! because being homeless last thanks giving was soooooooo hard in more ways the one for me !!

There Should be No One Homeless In the Land They Call America !!

[ecotopian]

10:10 PM on 11/24/2010

Well said, stargazer. There are times when the paycheck just gets swallowed by bills and there isn't a lot left over. We are by no means poor. We are what used to be considered "middle class". When those times strike, I remind my husband that we have a roof over our heads and food on the table. I consider that doing just fine. I heartily agree with you that no one in this nation should be homeless and neither should they go hungry. I need to put a reminder on the frige to give some more food to our local food pantry in January. Hunger is year long problem. It just doesn't happen during the holidays.

[stargazer13]

10:49 PM on 11/24/2010

agreed all year long !! Happy Thanks Giving ! To You And Yours !!

[powerhuff]

07:56 PM on 11/24/2010

ought to give IOWA a try!

[haimchaim]

02:33 PM on 11/24/2010

i love the night before Thanksgiving .. the smells of the kitchen .. the coming feast ,, coming home Mom...