To call attention to insufficient funding of food stamps, Eric Gioia, a city councilman fro Queens concluded a Food Stamp Challenge, during which he ate only what a New Yorker could typically afford on a week’s worth of food stamps, or the equivalent of twenty-eight dollars. “President Bush has threatened to cut the program by hundreds of millions of dollars over the next several years, even though food-stamp provisions have not been properly adjusted for inflation since 1996”.

Here are the groceries that Gioia brought home from a Food Dynasty in Woodside: two loaves of white bread, six ears of corn, five oranges, six bananas, three cucumbers, three cans of tuna, four packets of ramen, five boxes of Ronzoni pasta, one jar of tomato sauce, one bag of carrots (organic), one stick of butter, processed-cheese slices, one tub of pre-mixed peanut butter and jelly (Smucker’s Goober). Total cost: $24.44.

He complains about feeling bloated and hungry from his carb-heavy diet.

For the record, food stamps are underfunded and are a necessary measure to keep families, especially children, from starvation.

However, I do like a challenge. As I have been sorting and minding Ian this afternoon, I’ve been thinking about what I could buy with $28. How could I stretch that dollar? A bag of rice. A bag of lentils for lentil soup. I could make enough soup for three days. Shoprite-brand frozen vegetables. Chopped beef on sale. No name cheerios or oatmeal. One loaf of brown bread.