sustenance

Unlike the infamous Lunchables, easily packable lunches don’t have to come at the expense of cost or sustenance.

The would-be workers stand in small groups, clutching water bottles, their only source of sustenance for the day, as they listen and hope they will be among the lucky few.

After all, we live in a world where food isn’t just sustenance, it’s narrative.

For generations, Appalachia existed as a kind of social and economic commons for the country, where promises of help — federal investment, job training, flood protection, health care access — were offered as communal sustenance.

Like the Hollywood Walk of Fame or the Getty Museum, the upscale grocer draws out-of-town visitors in search of not just sustenance, but status — a smoothie, a snapshot and social media proof they were there.