I have been poor often in the past, and fortunately for only a brief period (six months) was too poor to buy adequate food. It was a very enlightening experience. It was before food banks in my area, and I was too proud/stupid to ask for welfare. Let me tell you that it takes very little time with less than needed B complex and other vitamins and protein for the body and brain to start acting out in a very predictable manner.

You become nervous, you tire quickly, you are easily confused, fearful, and sleep poorly. In this state, looking for work becomes an unbearably difficult task, and you don't present well to prospective employers, who may already be looking askance at you because of your less than businesslike clothing. You are always tired, yet because you must, you walk long distances to get to interviews or appointments, therefore often arriving dusty or sweaty.

You can't afford the simplest grooming aids: deodorant, hair products, skin lotions, etc. You likely have to pay to get clothes washed, and you wear them longer than you normally would. You look poor. The older you are, and especially if you are a woman, the more obvious this is.

When I did get work, and a small paycheck, I went straight to a co-op food store, and I remember my hands shaking as I picked out good food to buy, cheese and rice and vegetables and fruit. I had fussy tastes before that experience, wouldn't eat celery or tomatos or asparagus or parsnips and so on. My flavour prejudices just disappeared overnight. There are very few food items I won't eat now.

For many years after I worked with low income working mothers and their children. I know some of those mothers were often hungry. I know their occasional odd behaviours were as often due to food deprivation as anything else. My local charitable donations go mainly to food banks and the volunteer fire department.

I get angry when I hear people blaming the poor for their poverty, or raving against social assistance. It isn't a simple problem with a simple solution. 'The poor' aren't some kind of solid mass to be 'dealt with'; they are individual humans with individual needs, problems, talents, abilities, dreams, concerns, dammit.