EBT Cards & Extra Value Meals
As a kid, this was me:
I hated being sent to the store for groceries. I hated it even more that instead of money, I was sent with food stamps. Even though it was pretty much commonplace to see them being used, there was the stigma attached to them and embarrassment as well. I still remember on one occasion running into a classmate at the corner store. I tried my hardest to hide the food stamps, but failed. He pulled them out of my hand and waved them around. I could feel the tears well up in my eyes, but the store owner quickly came and snatched them from the boy’s hands and threw him out of the store.
Since the advent of the Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card, I guess you can say using public assistance has become a lot more inconspicuous. No one has to see you pull out food stamps from a book, instead your benefits are accessed through your EBT card. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, between 2005-2010, the number of business that accept food stamps have grown by 1/3.
In a report done by USA Today, many restaurants are now trying to get a share of the food stamp/EBT money:
Louisville-based Yum! Brands, whose restaurants include Taco Bell, KFC, Long John Silver’s and Pizza Hut, is trying to get restaurants more involved, federal lobbying records show.
That’s a prospect that anti-hunger advocates welcome, but one that worries some current food stamp vendors and public health advocates.
Federal rules generally prohibit food stamp benefits, which are distributed under the USDA’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), from being exchanged for prepared foods. Yet a provision dating to the 1970s allows states to allow restaurants to serve disabled, elderly and homeless people, USDA spokeswoman Jean Daniel said.
Pros? Cons?
Of course there are both to consider.
How would allowing the use of EBT cards at fast food restaurants affect childhood obesity rates? Like my friend Danielle said today, “the hood doesn’t have grocery stores”, and she definitely has a point. When I was a kid, you couldn’t just walk to a grocery store. We had bodegas on just about every corner that accepted food stamps, and let me not forget the Korean owned “fish” markets, where you could get a healthy fried fish sandwich, which most people preferred to the fresh fish they also had available.
Some parents are lazy, and would probably use the EBT access in a heartbeat at the likes of Taco Bell, KFC & Long John Silvers. So I can see why people like Kelly Brownell, director of Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity would have an issue with it:
But if we’re speaking in regards to the homeless population that typically doesn’t have access to refrigerators and grocery shopping, how preposterous is it for them to have access to already cooked food?
So do we worry about the obesity rate or the fact that this could actually help people in the long run?
That Sesame Street segment took me back! For the longest time, I couldn’t understand the girl saying the word ‘container.’ I would still imitate it not knowing what she was talking about with the milk. Good times.
As far as fast food places taking EBT, it’s a little upsetting to me. There is a crab place near my house that accepts that card. I think it’s unfair, because I can rarely afford to eat crabs and I work every day, but they get them through the gov’t. In the end, I’m thankful I’m not on welfare, so I guess it doesn’t REALLY matter to me.
The gov’t will pass the use of ebt cards at fast food, because nigga’s ain’t dying fast enough for them. They want little black kids to have hypertension at 12. Trust me it will pass, just to kill them off faster!
I think they people who are aginist this are the same people who have never had to rely on these benefits. I agree with Tamara, I want people to be able to eat food!
All I have to say is that you have totally made my day with the video!!! It is one of my favorite Sesame Street vignettes of all time. Whenever I need dairy, I find myself saying, “I need a loaf-a-bread… a container-a-milk… and a stick-a-butta!
That is my absolute favorite vignette! I had to do the same exact thing as the little girl..hell..I still do when I go grocery shopping.
Why should the gov’t allow people to buy fast food with an EBT card? What’s next…alcohol & cigarettes????
Cigs and Alcohol isn’t food.
I believe that people should be able to use the EBT food benefits for any food, prepared or not. To argue that it’s a concern re: childhood obesity (or obesity period) is ludicrous. Guess what – people are obese NOW! Here’s another one – people are going to McD’s, KFC, Taco Bell, etc. NOW. They just have to use their cash or EBT cash benefits instead of the food benefits. I hope this goes through. Why should it be the government’s purview to determine WHAT people eat? I just care that they eat.
I know in some states they’re also trying to outlaw the use of the EBT card at the ATM…which I think would be even more detrimental. Alot of people rely on that to pay rent, etc.