The U.S. Already Tested Trump’s Canned Goods Idea On Native Americans. It Was Bad.

The program began by promoting canned meat and powdered milk for low-income people.
As a child, A-dae Romero-Briones eagerly awaited the government truck that delivered her family’s monthly food box to the designated drop-off spot at New Mexico’s Cochiti Indian Reservation. A “good” package included real butter and cheese. A “bad” package was filled with powdered eggs and some kind of canned meat that reminded her of “dog food.” She had to dig through layers of gelatinous goo to reach the actual protein.

But it was the powdered milk that Romero-Briones, 36, dreaded the most.

When she came down to the kitchen in the morning and saw her grandmother preparing oatmeal or cereal with the flaky milk, Romero-Briones couldn’t help but cringe. It felt like the rest of her day would bring only more disappointment.

“It was like eating cereal with water,” she said. “Tasting real milk was almost like candy to us.”

An attorney with expertise in agricultural law, Romero-Briones is now the director of native food and agricultural programs at the First Nations Development Institute. The Lodi, California-based organization provides grants to groups that work to improve food access, health and nutrition for Native American families.

Romero-Briones and her family received the food deliveries as part of the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), a project of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Established in the 1970s, the program was conceived as an alternative to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), still often called food stamps, that would serve low-income households living on or near reservations.

Source: huffingtonpost