Jack Monroe’s frank rebuttal of an ignorant take on food poverty was the best possible response
In an article that shouldn’t exist in 2022, the BBC shared the story of NHS nurse Rebeccah, who has to miss meals to feed her three children with the £80 she has left for food and other costs after she pays the bills.
Her struggles moved people.
Becky is a nurse in the NHS and one of many NHS workers struggling to afford food because of low pay in the NHS. Awful.
I am working hard to help those struggling any way I can. I am sorry you have to go through this, it hurts to see this. 💔https://t.co/9K5aI2pdbN— Neely Mozawala (@NeelyMozawala) April 11, 2022
This is heartbreaking 💔
If you can, help others, donate to a food bank through your local Co-op! 👍@Covhour @FareShareUK @HECoopCommunity @coopuk @midcountiescoop
BBC News – Cost of living crisis: Nurse skips meals to feed her childrenhttps://t.co/LtdDNlER8y— Scotty (@CoventryScotty) April 11, 2022
This made me cry. The kindness of her neighbour sharing what she has against The chancellor calling for an inquiry to see why his wife did not get away with not paying her taxes. For shame @BorisJohnson @RishiSunak https://t.co/YmKMltImdn
— Beth Wright (@BethPitsone) April 11, 2022
Actually, Rebeccah’s plight moved most people. Self-described ‘opinionated’ ‘political enthusiast’ Kevin Edger had a familiar and very unhelpful take.
His unhelpful opinion saw a few like-minded fellow Tories nodding along, but far more reactions labelled it nonsense.
how are the poor still hungry when their tears can be used as a sauce https://t.co/qH3e0pXY0k
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) April 11, 2022
Nice to see some people went from 'clap for the NHS' to 'nurses don't deserve nice meals' in just over a year. https://t.co/WF7UBRJtAi
— TechnicallyRon (@TechnicallyRon) April 11, 2022
"Oh no I have scurvy" – people surviving on pasta alone because it feeds a family no problem. https://t.co/vp2fHkIOzz
— Sooz Kempner (@SoozUK) April 11, 2022
Putting aside the ridiculousness of this tweet (if you can), people are that poor right now they don't even have the money to turn the stove on to cook pasta
There are people turning down food that needs cooking at food banks for this reason https://t.co/e4S3Z22ZC0
— Nadine Batchelor-Hunt (@nadinebh_) April 11, 2022
Bestselling cookery book author, anti-poverty campaigner and foremost expert on extreme thrift from experience, Jack Monroe replied with a surgical dissection of the many problems with Edger’s glib remark.
Hi Kevin, THE literal expert on budget cooking here who has spent the last decade on the front line of food poverty in this country.
500g bag of budget pasta, 29p. That’s 5 meals of 100g plain pasta, no butter, no salt, no sauce, no nutrition, and a whole 155 calories a meal!
— Jack Monroe ♿️🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 (@BootstrapCook) April 11, 2022
That’s only 456 calories a day, but hey, it’s not like nursing is physically demanding, on your feet all day, shift work, is it? Operating at a deficit of 1,544calories a day is perfectly sustainable in your head, right? I sure hope so, because I’ve got a challenge for you pal!
— Jack Monroe ♿️🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 (@BootstrapCook) April 11, 2022
Go to your local Asda and get 3 packets of SmartPrice pasta for just under a quid*.
That’s 15 meals for you there – you eat nothing but 3 x 100g plain pasta for the next 5 days. Nothing else. No salt in the water. No butter. No oil. No pepper. No sauce. No snacks. No other meals
— Jack Monroe ♿️🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 (@BootstrapCook) April 11, 2022
No tea, no coffee, no squash, no energy drinks, just this MAGIC PASTA that you think is the answer to everything.
Come back to me on Wednesday and let me know how things are working out for you.
And the * in the previous tweet? If they don’t have the Smartprice pasta, well…
— Jack Monroe ♿️🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 (@BootstrapCook) April 11, 2022
…you get one bag of 70p penne instead, because that’s the reality of life for people on a budget. Which means instead of 3 measly meals of 100g pasta a day, you’ve only got one. 155 calories to sustain you for a whole day. No vitamins. No variation. Just fucking plain pasta.
— Jack Monroe ♿️🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 (@BootstrapCook) April 11, 2022
All these absolute wet wipes in your replies saying how EASY it is to cook healthy meals on a budget – pals I’ve been waiting ten years now for someone else to come along and help take some of the weight off my shoulders here, and yet here I am, working 100+ hours a week…
— Jack Monroe ♿️🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 (@BootstrapCook) April 11, 2022
helping people like Rebecca day after day, while people like you sit in your comfy lives telling us all how you’d be so much better at being poor than we are. SO DO IT THEN. Show us all how it’s done and I look FORWARD to your bestselling cookbook on the subject. Best of luck! 😌
— Jack Monroe ♿️🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 (@BootstrapCook) April 11, 2022
Edger spent hours defending his position, insisting that he used pasta only as an example – which wasn’t the slam dunk he clearly thought. He even tried a comeback to Jack.
Are you actually high? pic.twitter.com/WvBf3HS8hv
— Jack Monroe ♿️🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 (@BootstrapCook) April 11, 2022
People were very glad to see the patronising poverty theory given such a comprehensive rebuttal.
Joyful seeing that monstrous cretin Kevin Edger getting fantastically owned by Jack Monroe on the topic of food poverty. 🙌
— Sir William Misanthrope 🌘🇺🇦 (@BillyVacant) April 11, 2022
no expensive private school will ever school you as hard as @BootstrapCook schools this rancid Tory shithouse in the replies here. outstanding work. https://t.co/elPb0njYLn
— dan hett (@danhett) April 11, 2022
Well… I would say that is going to be hard to come back from… perfect response Thank you Jack. https://t.co/bZvmWv2YKX
— Deborah Meaden 🇺🇦 (@DeborahMeaden) April 11, 2022
Duncan Jones had this good advice.
Ignore the prat that started the thread. What's important is Jack Monroe explaining how poverty affects nutrition & how a person is supposed to work and live on a calorie deficit. Numbers dont lie. Read the thread- https://t.co/xRAk3j9t6g
— Duncan Jones (@ManMadeMoon) April 11, 2022
We have to let Jack have the final word, in case anyone else is planning one of those ‘Porridge/pasta/a bag of potatoes costs a quid‘ hot takes – and they are. They definitely are.
You start chatting absolute pony about how easy budget cooking is on Twitter and you bet your ass i’m gonna turn up summoned like the Candyman.
— Jack Monroe ♿️🏳️⚧️🏳️🌈 (@BootstrapCook) April 11, 2022
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Source Jack Monroe Image Public Domain Pictures on Pixabay
