Austin, TX

How ironic is it that today, on World Poverty Day, I should see the newest addition to Hardee’s breakfast menu. A burrito so calorie laden it could only come from the United States.

Take one flour tortilla, stuff it with two scrambled eggs and sprinkle the eggs with crumbled sausage. Sound good so far? I’d take it just like that but wait, there’s more. Now liberally coat the burrito with diced ham and since ham isn’t enough pork, add in some bacon bits. Still not satisfied? Apparently neither was Hardees so they topped that with a handful of shredded cheddar and ZOMG! did we forget to add starch? Well let’s fix that! Five hashbrown patties ought to do the trick. Hmm, still missing something? Oh yeah, sauce! How about a big ladle of sausage gravy? Yeah, that’s the ticket!

How many calories will this cost you? I’m glad you asked. This fun-filled little breakfast item will net you a whopping 920 calories and 60 grams of fat.

How much will this baby cost you? Well, I’ll tell you! You can have this burrito for a mere $2.69. That’s less than 3.5 cents to the calorie.

I don’t know about poverty but one of those a day could end world hunger.

Seriously though, today really is World Poverty Day. Lest you think that poverty is something that only happens in other countries, let me just point out that poverty in the United States increased by 4% from 2000 to 2006. Happily the poverty rate declined slightly in 2007. According to the US Census Bureau, 35.9 million people live below the poverty line in America, including 12.9 million children.

According to the US Department of Agriculture, up to one-fifth of America’s food goes to waste each year, with an estimated 130 pounds of food per person ending up in landfills. The annual value of this lost food is estimated at around $31 billion but the real story is that roughly 49 million people could have been fed by those lost resources.

Now might be a good time to clean out your pantry and donate some food to your local food pantry. I did that recently and took in 4 bags of groceries that might otherwise have gone to waste.

What do you have in your pantry?

For more on poverty, check out Stacey’s Global Poverty Monitor.

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