Sao Paulo, Brazil – Ana Maria Nogueira adds one bacon-flavoured seasoning cube to the pot of rice simmering on the stove.
In the wooden shack that she and her husband, Eraldo, who is disabled, call home in Jardim Keralux, a poor neighbourhood in Sao Paulo’s sprawling eastern zone, the coronavirus that has killed more than 351,000 Brazilians seems like a faraway problem.
The couple has more pressing priorities. “This year, we’re going hungry,” Ana, 56, told Al Jazeera.
Ana and Eraldo are two of 19 million Brazilians to have gone hungry during the pandemic, according to a new study, while nearly 117 million – more than half the population – live with some level of food insecurity.