To a billion people around the world surviving on just a dollar a day, the question of what to eat tonight is more about life and death than about recipes. The struggle of poor people around the globe weighs heavily on me, especially now that I am a mother, which is why I work with Oxfam.

De Laurentiis contrasts the culinary world of choice, taste, and technique with the stark reality of food insecurity. For people living in extreme poverty, “what to eat tonight” is not a lifestyle question but an urgent calculation about survival. By adding that the issue “weighs heavily” on her, especially after becoming a mother, she frames empathy as intensified by parenthood and responsibility. The final clause links feeling to action: her work with Oxfam is presented as a practical response to moral discomfort, suggesting that public figures can leverage their platforms to address systemic hunger rather than merely celebrate food as pleasure.