Vegans Advocate for Healthier Food-Stamp Choices

Rory Freedman, co-author of the Skinny Bitch book series, is setting out to raise awareness about the challenges of maintaining a healthy diet while subsisting on the federal food-assistance program. The vegan author purchased a week’s worth of food—primarily grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, and condiments—for a total of $33, the average sum allotted to food-stamp users in California. Freedman’s experiment comes at a time when the program is under tight scrutiny, as Congress debates cutting its funding under the revised Farm Bill. Earlier this week, vegan organization Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine proposed that retailers should accept food stamps for a prescribed list of healthful, plant-based foods, instead of the fatty meats, sodas, and processed foods often favored by food-stamps users.