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Paper short abstract:

Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews in the Southwest neighborhood of Washington, D.C., USA, this presentation describes and analyzes some of the ways in which members of the homeless community seek, share, and savor food with resilience and humor amid their daily struggles for survival.

Paper long abstract:

The daily struggle for survival among those experiencing homelessness is formidable. Finding shelter from the elements is perhaps most crucial, but finding food for sustenance is almost equally important. Many U.S. cities may have ‘soup kitchens’ that serve free meals or ‘grate patrols’ that deliver food to people unhoused, but ‘uncertainty’ and ‘insecurity’ are words that easily describe the challenges of finding food among those individuals with neither fixed addresses nor fixed incomes.

Based on ethnographic fieldwork and interviews in the Southwest neighborhood of Washington, D.C., USA, this presentation describes and analyzes the ways in which members of the homeless community seek, share, and savor food amid their daily struggles for survival. Like any folk group, those experiencing homelessness have their own sets of skills, specialized knowledge, and codes of behavior that not only distinguish them from other groups, but that also meet their needs as a community.

Resilience and humor are essential strategies, which manifest themselves through shorthand classifications, e.g., ‘Double-A’ for food still warm from the hand of the donor, or initialisms, such as TYO for ‘Trim Your Own’ for food requiring trimming around the toothmarks left behind by whoever tossed the edible food into a trash can.

The community of those experiencing homelessness in Washington, D.C., is multiethnic and predominantly male—at least among those who live outdoors rather than in shelters. But what all have in common is the resourcefulness and quest for dignity and comfort that unite human beings, especially in times of uncertainty.