Glossary

 We’re here to help you understand what we do! There are terms we use in conversation and in writing. We don’t want to have any barriers to your understanding of the work we do. The following glossary can provide clarification for terms you may have heard of.

 Food insecurity The USDA defines food insecurity as a household's inability to provide enough food for each person to live an active, healthy lifestyle. Food insecurity can also occur when there is an abundance of processed, pre-packaged, calorie-dense foods, because these foods do not contain adequate nutrition.

Food security is the measure of an individual’s ability to access food that is nutritious and sufficient in quantity. Some definitions of food security specify that food must also meet an individual’s food preferences and dietary needs for active and healthy lifestyles.

Food sovereignty is a powerful and innovative concept that was coined in 1996 by La Via Campesina, a global movement of farmers, to describe their vision of a better food future. La Via Campesina defines food sovereignty as “the right of Peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems.”

Community-supported agriculture (CSA model) or cropsharing is a system that connects the producer and consumers within the food system more closely by allowing the consumer to subscribe to the harvest of a certain farm or group of farms.

Malnutrition is the condition that develops when the body is deprived of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients it needs to maintain healthy tissues and organ function.

Hunger is an uncomfortable or painful physical sensation caused by insufficient consumption of dietary energy.

Health equity is achieved when every person has the opportunity to “attain his or her full health potential” and no one is “disadvantaged from achieving this potential because of social position or other socially determined circumstances.”