Rising food costs are causing global hunger while the rich are getting richer | Arwa Mahdawi

The rich are now nearly 40% richer than before the coronavirus crisis. Meanwhile, food prices rise, and more and more people go hungry

Is food made out of gold now? Because it's starting to seem that way. Every time I go to my (extremely not fancy) local New York supermarket I am shocked at how expensive groceries have become. Prices seem to jump every month - in fact, food prices are up 3.5% compared with last spring, according to the US Department of Agriculture. While that might not sound extreme, it adds up. And it's going to keep going. People will have to get used to paying more for food," a food distribution expert told Bloomberg recently. It's only going to get worse."

The US, of course, isn't the only place where filling your belly is starting to cost an arm and a leg. Food prices are rocketing globally, driving millions into hunger. In Nigeria, food inflation rose to 22.95% in March. In Indonesia, tofu is now 30% more expensive than it was last year. In Lebanon, where nearly half the population lives in poverty, food is about five times as expensive as it was in 2019. In Russia, food prices rose 7.7% over the last year. In the UK, the pandemic has increased food insecurity; as many as 10% of people now use food banks.