Hidden Hunger

Kimura explores the recent emphasis on micronutrients and smart foods within the international development community and, in particular, how the voices of women were silenced despite their expertise in food purchasing and preparation.

Aya Hirata Kimura is Assistant Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa.

"Drawing upon theoretical foundations in feminist food studies, agrofood studies, and science and technology studies, Kimura constructs a nuanced critique of the discourses and practices that constitute the focus on micronutrient deficiencies as the primary problem of hunger and malnutrition in the developing world. She raises crucial questions about how casting the problem of hidden hunger as a technical matter requiring expert intervention has simultaneously brought attention to women as innocent victims of nutritional ignorance, shamed them for not providing proper nourishment for their children, and silenced their ability to contribute their perspectives despite their intimate knowledge of the experiences of malnutrition and the daily challenges of feeding their families." —Jessica Loyer,Graduate Journal of Food Studies

Carol J. Pierce Colfer, Center for International Forestry Research, author of The Complex Forest: Communities, Uncertainty, and Adaptive Collaborative Management:

In Hidden Hunger, Aya Hirata Kimura traces the history of global discourses on nutrition very informatively and clearly, integrating the various scales of conceptualization (from global to the very local, in the slums of Jakarta). Kimura usefully points out and illustrates how government and industry persistently and nonsensically ignore the views and needs of the supposed 'target groups'—women and children.