ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the particular phenomenon of marginalization in the form of hunger and food insecurity in rich Western countries. Participation is discussed here as promising option to deactivating and, at the worst, humiliating charity food delivery. The starting point of the chapter is that welfare services or policies have not been able to solve the problem of hunger as a sign of extreme poverty. The chapter focuses especially on the emergence and entrenchment of food aid as a means of poverty relief. The Finnish case reflects developments which began in the US and Canada during the 1980s. At the beginning of the chapter the three basic concepts of food poverty hunger, food security and food insecurity are briefly clarified. Then the reasons for the growing demand for food aid as well as explanations for the entrenchment, or rather institutionalization, of the distribution of food assistance is presented. At the end of the chapter the Finnish case is summarized.
