One Meal at a Time
A podcast about food insecurity in Greater Boston
By Peter Bell, Ella Chang, Victoria Duke, Giovanna Giuditta, Ana Gonzalez, O.P., Sean Hard, Molly Joyce, Sydney Leardi, Daniel Lyden, Daniel Meehan, Nicolas Stanham, Liliana Stella and Luke Tacelli
You may not associate Boston with food insecurity. The truth is, it's more prevalent in your community, and others around it, than you might imagine.
In this four-part podcast, you’ll hear from experts on the front lines, like Rose Saia from Newton's Centre Street Food Pantry, and Henry Morris from Women’s Lunch Place, which serves women in Boston. We’ll bring you personal stories—like Brenda’s—a woman whose resilience shines through her struggle with homelessness and hunger. And Nora’s, a student who relies on a food pantry at her college to get through the week.
We’ll bring you to the campuses of Bunker Hill Community College and William James College, two institutions trying to help their hungry students. We’ll visit Community Servings, an organization in Jamaica Plain that prepares and delivers fresh food for people battling disease and other health conditions. And we’ll take you to a kitchen at Harvard University, where student volunteers package and freeze dining hall food and redirect it to people in need.
Episode 1:
Living with Insecurity
Our guests, even the ones who are housed, are often making really difficult decisions between paying their rents, paying for food, paying for health care costs, and the other things that you want to have in your life. So the higher the food costs go, the harder those decisions become.
It’s a crisp morning in Boston, a city known for its prestigious sports teams, beautiful scenic views, and rich history. It’s also in many ways a booming city, with a thriving business community, successful entrepreneurs, strong economy, and top-tier universities.
In the Back Bay, Newbury Street hums with the usual city buzz—commuters rushing by, stores bustling with tourists eager to purchase top-of-the-line items. But amidst the premier stores of Zara, Buck Mason, and Lululemon lies Women's Lunch Place.
Located in the basement of the Church of the Covenant, on Newbury Street, Women's Lunch Place tells a different Boston story. Here, dozens of women gather every day, not for a new purse or jewelry, but for a meal they may not otherwise have.
Episode 2:
Too Hungry to Think
Imagine this: You’re sitting in a college class, trying to focus on a lecture, but your stomach’s been growling for hours. Not because you skipped breakfast on purpose, but because you couldn’t afford it. For thousands of students across the country, that’s not just a rough day—it’s their everyday.
Melissa Lane, William James College
Melissa Lane, William James College
Greater Boston is home to about 100 higher education institutions and more than 300,000 students. The Greater Boston Food Bank reported that in October of 2021 37 percent of public university students in the area were dealing with food insecurity.
What that means is this: There are thousands of students right now in Greater Boston seeking to achieve skilled training to meet the demands of the workforce and access better opportunities in life, all while dealing with the uncertainty of what their next meal will be.
When you have the proper nutrients, you're bound to function better. Whether that's in your academics, it's in your physical body, your mental state, all of it ... If you're concerned that you don't have food for your next meal or your stomach is actively growling and you have no way to make that stop, of course, that's gonna take a toll on your body. It's gonna take a toll on your mind. And it's going to be incredibly distracting.
Episode 3:
Well Fed
I like to think that every meal that we deliver—and we do 1.2 million meals a year—is a gift to a client who's very isolated and feels like they've been forgotten in their time of need. And so when our driver shows up and says, "The community hasn't forgotten you, here's a beautiful meal," it's essentially a gift. So in order to make that beautiful, we start with beautiful ingredients.
While millions struggle to access food, the challenge is even greater for those with dietary restrictions due to chronic or critical illnesses. Fortunately, food assistance programs have evolved significantly in recent years, shifting from providing any available food to focusing on offering nutritious, healthy options.
In the past, food banks primarily distributed non-perishable items like canned goods, which, while helpful in addressing hunger, often lacked essential nutrients. Today, many food agencies prioritize fresh produce, dairy, eggs, and other perishable foods to better support the health of those in need.
Meals are prepared at Community Servings, a nonprofit in Jamaica Plain.
Meals are prepared at Community Servings, a nonprofit in Jamaica Plain.
One of the agencies leading the charge is Community Servings, a nonprofit in Jamaica Plain that delivers medically tailored meals to people living with serious illnesses, right to their homes.
Episode 4:
Hunger to Hope
Recent stats from the Greater Boston Food Bank and Project Bread tell us that one in three people in Massachusetts experiences food insecurity. That’s an alarmingly high number, especially for a state that’s otherwise pretty wealthy.
But at the same time, many organizations have made efforts to fight food insecurity—especially by reducing food waste. An app called Too Good to Go lets restaurants and grocery stores list food that wasn’t bought by the end of the day for people to pick up at a reduced price. At Tufts University, students built an online platform where they can post about any food left over from events, so that less of it gets thrown out.
And at Harvard University, students repackage leftover food from the Annenberg dining hall that would otherwise go to waste. It’s all part of a program called Heat-N-Eats. In this episode, we trace the path of food from the dining hall to the people who need it most.
These are investments that will pay off. And you don't wanna just penalize and hold back people because they're experiencing, you know, food security or housing insecurity ... If you have kids getting balanced, nutritious meals during the day then they're going to do better in school. They're going go on to be more successful in higher education and they're going to stay in this state and help to build our economy ... We need to think ahead and open up opportunities for everybody.
One Meal at a Time is project of the Boston College Journalism Program ©2025
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