FOOD POVERTY AND FOOD POLICY

Until recently the consequences of poverty for food, and the food elem ent in social exclusion, have been sidelined in post-war Britain, both by those working on food and nutrition and by those in social policy. The article draws on ideas about entitlement and access to food elabo rated in the South to illuminate the problems faced by the poor in the North in obtaining food, where the social and material conditions of poverty largely preclude economic and physical access to food appropri ate for health. Empirical evidence of the consequences in terms of nut ritional outcomes is reviewed, and the article concludes with a summar y of recent and potential policy options to address this fundamental i ssue.