They work in the food industry while worrying about food at home
To fund his university studies and goal of becoming a biologist, Alberto Isaac Maldonado Lozano works two jobs — as a cook and as a delivery driver for Uber and Rappi. His wife, Esmeralda Guadalupe López López, also works as a cook in one of the new restaurants in Guadalajara, Mexico.
The city boasts a growing economy and good quality of life. But the couple has to make compromises to provide healthy food for their own children — Ámbar, 9, and Tomás, 2. The couple knows all too well the irony of working in the food industry while worrying about food at home. At $8 or $9, the cost of a dish in the restaurants where they work is their budget to feed the whole family for a day.
To make sure the kids are eating well, they make sacrifices in their own meals. They get enough to eat, Maldonado says, but can't eat what they want, like beef and fish. To save money for food, they have also suspended their internet service at home and limit recreational outings.
And they send Tomás to a government-subsidized day care center, where he gets two or three free meals each day. Even when López takes a day off, she sends Tomás to day care. "I know that he will have adequate nutrition, which is difficult for us on many occasions," she says.
The family shops for food every third or fourth day at a store downtown where prices are cheap but quality is low. They try to prioritize nutritious food like fruit, baby formula and yogurt. "The hardest part of not providing an ideal meal for your family is knowing that you are not giving them the food they need," the dad says.