A famine food or poverty food is any inexpensive or ready available food used to nourish people in times of

hunger In politics, humanitarian aid, and the social sciences, hunger is defined as a condition in which a person does not have the physical or financial capability to eat sufficient food to meet basic nutritional needs for a sustained period. In t ...

and

starvation Starvation is a severe deficiency in caloric energy intake, below the level needed to maintain an organism's life. It is the most extreme form of malnutrition. In humans, prolonged starvation can cause permanent organ damage and eventually, de ...

, whether caused by

extreme poverty Extreme poverty is the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations (UN) as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, ...

, such as during

economic depression An economic depression is a period of carried long-term economic downturn that is the result of lowered economic activity in one or more major national economies. It is often understood in economics that economic crisis and the following recession ...

or war, or by natural disasters such as

drought A drought is a period of drier-than-normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, ...

. Foods associated with famine need not be nutritionally deficient, or unsavory. People who eat famine food in large quantity over a long period may become averse to it over time. In times of relative affluence, these foods may become the targets of social stigma and rejection. For example, some

cultures Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

that consider cats and dogs to be taboo foods may have historically consumed them during times of famine. The characterization of some foodstuffs as "famine" or "poverty" food can be social. For example,

lobster Lobsters are Malacostraca, malacostracans Decapoda, decapod crustaceans of the family (biology), family Nephropidae or its Synonym (taxonomy), synonym Homaridae. They have long bodies with muscular tails and live in crevices or burrows on th ...

and other

crustacea Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

ns have been considered poverty food in some societies and luxury food in others, depending on the period and situation.

Examples

Several foodstuffs have been strongly associated with famine, war, or times of hardship throughout history: *The

breadnut Breadnut may refer to: * '' Artocarpus camansi'', a close relative of the breadfruit * '' Brosimum alicastrum'', also known as "Maya nut" or ''ramón'', theorized to be a staple crop for the ancient Maya {{Short pages monitor