Then how do you explain the Italians-- and I am sure some other similar populations-- who really didn't get enough to eat until the 1950s? You should see the rickets I see on the street amongst the old. I asked my neighbors how come they lived on a farm and were still hungry during and just after WWII, and they told me the Fascists came and took the food. It was considered like a tax. They never had enough, fruit was raised for the rich to buy to get cash, nutritional diseases were rampant, but when they did have food, it was always cooked using herbs and garlic and whatever they could find in the woods and fields. To this day you cannot stop someone coming on your land to gather wild foods. Public access is maintained to every river-- there is a path through my garden that by law I must maintain so people can fish in it. I am still learning new Italian words for people who love food. They are not negative, like glutton. I think you have to look further than poverty for your answer. Distributing industry widely in order to leave countryside reachable from great cities is social policy, not accident. The population density here is 20 per SQ KM. That's pretty crowded.
