This article provides empirical results on food consumption patterns of German low-income households and those living under conditions of welfare as defined by Social Code II (Sozialgesetzbuch II). We focus on nutritional consumption patterns, strategies of food choices and typologies of coping with alimentary exclusion in Germany. Quantitative data from SILC/Eurostat are examined alongside qualitative data derived from a longitudinal study composed of more than 450 biographical interviews, conducted over a period of five years. The quantitative data reveal that food poverty and alimentary participation in German households is severe compared to the European average, the UK and even to Greece. The qualitative data give insight into a broad variety of individual coping strategies, eliciting evidence of the essential role of alimentary participation, as well as its tight restrictions.

Although still a powerful economy, Germany faces rising income inequality and food insecurity. Quantitative data show that nutritional poverty in Germany has become a fact, especially for social welfare recipients. This contribution gives an overview and discusses the limits of results from different data sources, such as German food surveys, and addresses how affected population groups are systematically underrepresented. To give a more thorough impression of food insecurity in Germany, the article compares nutritional consumption data from the Statistics on Income and Living Conditions/Eurostat survey for Germany, the members of the European Union 27 (EU27), and Greece. The figures for Germans with incomes below 60% of the median equivalised income who cannot afford one proper meal every second day are worse than those in the remaining EU27 member nations, and the figures for their children are not so far from the figures for crisis-stricken Greece. As eating is not only about nutrition but also a means of social activity, we consider the ability to eat and drink with friends an issue of alimentary participation. The percentages of Germans who cannot afford a drink or meal with others at least once a month is very high compared to the rates of the remaining EU27 member nations and Greece. The provided quantitative figures prove that we see serious signs of food poverty in portions of Germany, despite its comparatively strong economy. Data from hundreds of qualitative interviews describing how people stricken by food insecurity try to cope with the situation complement these results. Such data are very important, as governments widely underestimate the problem and leave it to be dealt with by food banks as the only institutional solution.

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