That's a great question. When you talk about defining food security, it's not just about calories, as I said. It's about access to sufficient, healthy and culturally appropriate foods for people. When you think about what that looks like in reality, it's being able to share a meal with your family, with your friends or with your community. It's being able to participate. How much community life happens over food? How many stories could we all tell that involve food? It's the participation that matters. That's why access is not enough. Dignity matters. Joy matters. It's having that moment of celebration.
That's often where local food fits in. We hear it over and over. We have a lived and living experience advisory group. They're a group of folks who all have lived experience of food insecurity, and they talk a lot about local food. Folks who've experienced food insecurity would like to be able to participate in that part of community life. If your food access landscape is based on going to food banks and meal programs, sometimes you miss out on that. That's where joy and dignity fit in. It's why providing access to the same kinds of foods the rest of us have access to really matters.