Nearly 50 years ago, President Richard Nixon organized the first White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health where he called on Congress to take action to address America’s hunger crisis. It kickstarted a national conversation to address the growing problem of food insecurity across the nation. Many of the programs Nixon supported are still being implemented in some form today.   

The Biden administration is preparing to host a similar forum later this month — the first presidential-led initiative of its kind in nearly half a century — to solve this continuing problem. Yet today, we lack the same bipartisan commitment Nixon showed to make this moment count for millions of underserved Americans who face every day without enough food to eat.  

Unless our elected leaders express a sudden and unexpected desire to work together, Biden’s commendable objective of ending U.S. hunger by 2030 faces enormous challenges in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate.   

Nixon was determined to stop hunger in America. In 1969, he urged Congress to pass food assistance initiatives, expand food stamps, Excellerate food access to pregnant women and children and streamline the way food programs were administrated. He believed in it so deeply that he backed a plan to allocate $2.5 billion (in 1969 dollars) to fight it, and proposed creating a new government agency to oversee it.   

“That hunger and malnutrition should persist in a land such as ours is embarrassing and intolerable,” he said to lawmakers at the time. “[T]he moment is at hand to put an end to hunger in America itself. For all time. I ask this of a Congress that has splendidly demonstrated its own disposition to act.”  

Congressional leaders heeded Nixon’s call by working collaboratively with his administration to establish new benefit standards for food stamp eligibility. Food stamp initiatives grew five times during Nixon’s tenure in office and helped millions of people. Bipartisan support to combat hunger continued under George W. Bush, who helped restore food stamp access for America’s immigrant population. Since then additional improvements have been made to what we now call the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to help the underprivileged.   

Despite these efforts, the number of people in America who go hungry or lack access to healthy food every day is disheartening. The pandemic caused an astonishing 54 million people to be food insecure, and the racial disparity of COVID-19’s impact was stark, affecting households of color twice as hard as white households. Pandemic relief efforts made an enormous difference in 2021 by reducing hunger to the lowest level on record in nearly two decades for families with children. But the expiration of the child tax credit, the discontinuation of the COVID-19 economic stimulus and the skyrocketing costs of groceries due to inflation will likely cause a rebound in food insecurity across the country over the coming years.   

Biden’s reversal of a Trump-era decision to defund SNAP brought back $1 billion per month of emergency relief to needy families. It was an important step but it won’t be enough to solve the hunger problem. SNAP is just one piece of the puzzle, helping more than 42 million people annually which, combined with the School Lunch Program, lifted three million more out of poverty in 2020.  

While overall child poverty statistics have declined in America, the threshold by which we measure the poverty line remains incomprehensibly low ($26,500 for a family of four in 2021). Anti-poverty advocates at the Shared Humanity Project say this grossly underestimates the number of people across the country who are “struggling to make ends meet.” Solving hunger demands more resources if the country is truly committed to ending the problem once and for all.   

This year marked the 20th anniversary of the George McGovern-Robert Dole Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program. Both men from opposing political parties dared to work together and put the needs of America’s most marginalized community before their own political desires. The idea that lawmakers might put their differences aside so that millions have enough to eat food sounds preposterous in light of how politically divided we are today. But we must, for the health of millions of people, refuse to accept this challenge as something that cannot be overcome.   

Ending hunger in America is within our reach. Statistics from 2021 prove it can be done. The only thing standing in our way is an expression of political will from both sides to get it done.   

 Lyndon Haviland, DrPH, MPH, is a distinguished scholar at the CUNY School of Public Health and Health Policy. 

The good news: we are born intuitive eaters. Have you ever had a meal with a toddler where they take two bites and then decide they don’t want to eat anymore, only to ask for the food again in an hour or so? This is an example of a person honoring their natural ability to intuitively eat and recognize their hunger and fullness cues. It’s something we’re born with.

The not-so-good news: we live in a world full of schedules, deadlines, commutes, and diet culture. The combination of all these factors sometimes can inhibit our ability to intuitively eat, and we deny or ignore our natural hunger cues.

Some background: intuitive eating is an evidence-based, anti-diet framework that was developed by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch in the late 1990s. Intuitive eating is comprised of ten principles:

1. Reject diet mentality
2. Honor your hunger
3. Make peace with food
4. Challenge the food police
5. Discover the satisfaction factor
6. Feel your fullness
7. Cope with your emotions with kindness
8. Respect your body
9. Movement
10. Honor your health with gentle nutrition

It's important to note that intuitive eating might not be easily accessible for everyone due to a variety of factors, including finances, geographic location, transportation, or other limitations to accessibility. Despite its many benefits, the concept of intuitive eating is not without its shortcomings.

Now, the fun part: did you know that you have four different types of hunger? Did you know that each type of hunger deserves to be honored without judgment?

“Honor your hunger” is one of the ten principles of intuitive eating. Sometimes, due to our busy lives and hectic schedules, it can become difficult to honor our hunger on a regular basis and eat intuitively. However, with a little awareness, education, and understanding, we can try to incorporate intuitive eating and honoring our hunger into our daily lives.

In addition to the ten principles, the intuitive eating framework also identifies four different types of hunger. Let’s dive into our different types of hunger and how we can try to honor them.

Physical Hunger

What it is: Simply put, physical hunger is what most people think of when they think of the word “hunger.” It can manifest as a growling stomach, a headache, feeling faint, or a variety of other physical symptoms. It is your body’s way of saying, “please feed me!”

How to honor it: In a perfect world, we would honor physical hunger by eating as soon as we notice these hunger cues from our bodies. However, we live in a busy and chaotic world, and sometimes it is not possible to eat at the exact moment that we feel the hunger cues. One way to combat this is to eat based on practical hunger (discussed below).

It could also be helpful to have some quick, easy snacks on hand throughout the day, so if hunger does strike during class or a meeting, you have a quick snack that is easily accessible, and you can satiate your hunger cues without too much disruption.

Taste Hunger

What it is: Taste hunger is exactly what it sounds like: it’s the feeling of desiring a specific food because of its taste (or texture, temperature, etc.). In the words of RDN Rachel Helfferich, it’s eating what “sounds good.” It’s the moment when you are in a dining hall or a food court with tons of different options for what to eat, you really consider what you are craving at that moment, and then you choose that food option. Unfortunately, diet culture sometimes gets in the way of honoring this type of hunger. When we engage in disordered behaviors, such as assigning moral value to food (foods are “good” or “bad”), or we become wrapped up in making the “healthiest” choice, we are ignoring and not honoring our taste hunger.

How to honor it: When you are faced with a decision of what to eat, take a moment or two to pause, breathe, and check in with yourself. Consider all of the food options that you have available and imagine what it would be like to eat each one of them. You might get a “gut feeling” when you imagine eating a certain food and have a moment of, “ah, that’s what I wanted.” When you have this moment, honor it. Try not to let diet culture or overthinking creep in. Let your ability to eat intuitively guide the way.

Emotional Hunger

What it is: Emotional hunger is eating to satisfy an emotional need. A classic example is that cliché movie scene where the main character reaches for the pint of Ben & Jerry’s after a bad breakup. Emotional hunger gets a bad rap sometimes. People tend to assign moral value (“I’m so bad for having this”) to emotional hunger/emotional eating. However, eating to satisfy emotional needs is not an inherently bad thing. It can be a way to cope with emotions in the short term. Additionally, we can turn to food to satisfy positive emotions. Consider holidays like Thanksgiving, where food is a significant part of the day and is presented as a symbol of celebration and togetherness. Honoring emotional hunger is just as important to overall well-being as honoring any of the other types of hunger.

How to honor it: Allow yourself to use food as a way to self-soothe on a temporary/short-term basis. Do not assign moral value to any type or quantity of food, as this invites feelings of shame or embarrassment into the equation. Additionally, eliminate thoughts such as, “ugh, I’m so bad for having this,” or, “I need to hit the gym on Monday to make up for this,” from your vocabulary. We can feel free to eat for emotional reasons without having to feel guilty or “make up” for it.

That said, if you feel like your relationship with emotional eating is problematic and you are looking for a larger repertoire of coping skills, please reach out to a mental health professional who can conduct a more thorough assessment and provide additional assistance.

Practical Hunger

What it is: Practical hunger is the act of eating even in the absence of hunger cues because you know you might not have a chance to eat again for a while. This is arguably the most important type of hunger for people with busy or rigid schedules (students, teachers, people in jobs with long meetings) to learn to honor, as it protects us from getting too hungry (and hangry!) on those days where time just gets away from us and we might not have the opportunity to eat at the exact moment that our physical hunger cues strike.

How to honor it: Let’s say you are a therapist with back-to-back sessions from 5 to 8 p.m. Maybe you aren’t hungry for dinner yet at 4:30 p.m., but it’s the only chance you’ll have to eat for the next few hours, so you have something to eat before your sessions even though you are not experiencing physical hunger cues and it might be earlier than a traditional dinnertime.

With practical hunger, you can always check in with your hunger cues later on and decide if you need more food when you do have a chance to eat again, and then make a decision based on your intuitive self-assessment. However, by tapping into our practical hunger, we are protecting ourselves from getting too hungry and feeling the negative effects of restriction or lack of nourishment.

By honoring our four different types of hunger on a regular basis, we are communicating to our bodies the words, “I trust you,” and, in return, our bodies are learning to trust us as well. This mutual trust within ourselves and our bodies is critical to maintaining a healthy relationship with food, our bodies, and our mental health. As I mentioned above, it is important to note that intuitive eating is not always perfectly accessible for everyone, all the time. However, if we try to honor our hunger and respond appropriately as much as we can, in the best way that we can at that moment, the difference in our overall wellness will be invaluable.

A version of this article has also been published on Lukin Center for Psychotherapy's website.

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President Biden and first lady Jill Biden pack food boxes while volunteering on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Jan. 16, 2022. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

President Biden and first lady Jill Biden pack food boxes while volunteering on Martin Luther King, Jr., Day of Service in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Jan. 16, 2022.

Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

President Joe Biden will headline the White House conference on hunger, nutrition and health on Sept. 28, unveiling his plan to make good on a pledge to end hunger and diet-related diseases by 2030.

The conference, planned for the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, will feature panels and working group sessions involving hundreds of advocates, educators, health care professionals, lawmakers, cabinet officials and everyday Americans.

Doug Emhoff – the husband of Vice President Harris –will also speak at the conference, the White House says. Other featured speakers include Chef Jose Andres, known for his work feeding people after disasters, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

It will be the first conference on hunger, nutrition and health since 1969. That Nixon-era conference led to the creation of the big programs underpinning U.S. hunger response, like food stamps and child nutrition assistance.

Food, hunger and nutrition advocates are closely watching for the release of the new White House strategy, which many hope will be as transformational for food and health as the first conference's plan.

What's on the agenda

The conference will open with panels covering courses like food as medicine, promoting physical activity, childhood nutrition, public-private partnerships, and equity.

Shots - Health News

The U.S. diet is deadly. Here are 7 ideas to get Americans eating healthier

During smaller working-group sessions, participates will "collaborate and identify actions they will take individually and collectively to help achieve the goal of ending and reducing diet-related diseases," according to the White House.

The White House and agencies have spent the last few months hosting listening sessions to prepare for the summit, talking to representatives from corporations, health care, conservation and environmental groups, hunger and nutrition groups and school and education groups. They have also taken in recommendations from organizations, individuals and lawmakers.

Recommendation briefs reviewed by NPR include a wide variety of policy proposals like expanding universal free school meals and school cafeteria resources, boosting nutrition assistance programs, and improved outreach to immigrant, Native American and other marginalized communities.

Food and nutrition advocates have raised concerns over whether or not the administration will be able to match the high bar set by the last conference.

Many will weigh the success of the conference on how the White House's final recommendations are implemented — the executive actions, partnerships with companies and nonprofits, and in upcoming legislation like the 2023 farm bill.

The global hunger crisis is so severe that one person is starving to death every four seconds, according to humanitarian relief organizations. Hunger is the biggest crisis facing the globe today and we must all act now to save lives.

The Horn of Africa continues to suffer from a prolonged drought, caused by climate change. Families have lost everything as they cannot grow food without rain. Their livestock has died from extreme heat. Millions are desperately searching for food each day.

The U.N. World Food Program (WFP) estimated 26 million people in Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya are suffering from severe hunger due to drought. Famine is likely to be declared in parts of Somalia.

"Families here have one plea for the rest of the world. Please don't look away. Please help," said Malene Jensen of UNICEF.

The world can do more to help concerned mothers in nutrition centers who are watching their children die from hunger. Relief operations in Somalia and other countries have lacked funding all year.

Save the Children's country director in Somalia, Mohamud Hassan, warned, "Children are already dying. The services set up to combat malnutrition and hunger in Somalia are simply not enough to meet the huge and increasing levels of need."

The hunger crisis goes far beyond Somalia and East Africa. The WFP said there are 345 million people worldwide experiencing acute hunger. That horrifying number has doubled since 2019. In war-torn Yemen, South Sudan, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo there are alarming rates of hunger. The war in Ukraine displaced millions of hungry people and led to increased global food prices.

"We urgently need to get help to those in grave danger of starvation in Somalia and the world's other hunger hotspots," said David Beasley, executive director of WFP.

War, climate change and the pandemic have all created the biggest hunger crisis since the end of World War II. At that time America led a global effort to stop famine. The U.S. had to dramatically increase its hunger relief efforts after World War II to save lives. We must do so again.

"While we appreciate and acknowledge the generosity of the U.S. government in response to growing humanitarian needs, more action is clearly necessary," said Bill O'Keefe of Catholic Relief Services.

For small children, deadly malnutrition can set in quickly. They need foods like Plumpy'Nut, an enriched peanut paste, to survive. If there is not enough funding or political will to bring food to the hungry, children will continue to lose their lives. With increased funding we could support all infant nutrition and school meals programs that save children's lives.

Donors need to step up with emergency aid and also longer-term funding to prevent famine. Everyone can do more, whether through holding fundraisers for hunger relief or writing letters to Congress urging more funding for global food aid.

Feeding the hungry must become a priority for everyone. Resources exist to prevent famine. The world just needs the political will and the heart to save lives.

William Lambers is an author who partnered with the U.N. World Food Program (WFP) on the book Ending World Hunger. His writings have been published by The Washington Post, History News Network, Cleveland's The Plain Dealer and many other news outlets. Lambers recently volunteered to write the Hunger Heroes section of WFP's online learning game Freerice.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

AND BEYOND AS WE CELEBRATE HUNGER ACTION DAY, WE ARE AT NEW HOPE MINISTRY WAREHOUSE RIGHT NOW. IF YOU LOOK UP ALL OF THIS FOOD RIGHT HERE, THIS IS GOING TO HELP FEED THE BELLIES OF PEOPLE RIGHT HERE IN THE SUSQUEHANNA VALLEY. AND WE HAVE ERIC SAUNDERS WITH US, THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR. SO TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT YOU GUYS DO TO HELP HELP PEOPLE HAVE FOOD IN MEALS. WELL, WE HAVE A FOOD PANTRIES IN YORK, ADAMS AND CUMBERLAND COUNTIES. AND ANYBODY WHO’S FACING HUNGER CAN COME IN REQUEST HELP. THEY CAN SIT DOWN AND TALK WITH A CASEWORKER ABOUT OTHER NEEDS. BUT WHEN THEY LEAVE, THEY’RE GOING TO LEAVE WITH A WEEK’S SUPPLY OF GROCERIES, OF REALLY GOOD QUALITY, NUTRITIOUS FOOD. NOW, RIGHT OUTSIDE IS THE GROSS AREA. PEOPLE CAN KIND OF SHOP AND PICK OUT WHATEVER THEY WANT. WHY WAS IT IMPORTANT TO YOU GUYS TO BE ABLE TO PROVIDE THAT KIND OF SETTING? WELL, I HAVE TO THINK ABOUT WHAT IF IT WAS MY FAMILY WHO WAS FACING HUNGER? I KNOW WHAT MY KIDS EAT. I WANT PEOPLE TO BE ABLE TO CHOOSE THE FOODS THAT THEY’RE GOING TO USE THAT ARE GOING TO WORK FOR THEIR LIFESTYLE. AND LAST QUESTION I HAVE OF PEOPLE AT HOME ARE WATCHING THIS AND THEY WANT TO GET INVOLVED AND HELP THAT FIGHT TO END HUNGER. HOW DO THEY DO IT? WELL, THE NUMBER ONE WAY YOU CAN DO IT IS give NUMBER TWO. YOU CAN VOLUNTEER. NUMBER THREE, YOU CAN give FOOD OR YOU CAN give MONEY. BUT MOST IMPORTANT, CARE ABOUT THE NEEDS OF YOUR NEIGHBORS AND TELL PEOPLE WHERE THEY CAN GET HELP. THANK YO

Friday is Hunger Action Day

Updated: 2:01 PM EDT Sep 23, 2022

Friday is Hunger Action Day – a day to raise awareness to end hunger.News 8 spoke with Eric Saunders, the executive director of New Hope Ministries, about the organization's efforts and how you can help."We have food pantries in York, Adams and Cumberland counties. And anybody who's facing hunger can come in, request help. They can sit down and talk with a case worker about other needs. But when they leave, they're going to leave with a week's supply of groceries, of really good quality, nutritious food," he said.New Hope Ministries offers a grocery area that allows people to choose food items."I have to think about, what if it was my family who was facing hunger? I know what my kids eat. I want people to be able to choose the foods that they're going to use that are going to work for their lifestyle," Saunders said.Saunders said there are multiple ways people can help."The No. 1 way you can do it is give. No. 2, you can volunteer. No. 3, you can give food or you can give money. But most important, care about the needs of your neighbors and tell people where they can get help," he said.

Friday is Hunger Action Day – a day to raise awareness to end hunger.

News 8 spoke with Eric Saunders, the executive director of New Hope Ministries, about the organization's efforts and how you can help.

"We have food pantries in York, Adams and Cumberland counties. And anybody who's facing hunger can come in, request help. They can sit down and talk with a case worker about other needs. But when they leave, they're going to leave with a week's supply of groceries, of really good quality, nutritious food," he said.

New Hope Ministries offers a grocery area that allows people to choose food items.

"I have to think about, what if it was my family who was facing hunger? I know what my kids eat. I want people to be able to choose the foods that they're going to use that are going to work for their lifestyle," Saunders said.

Saunders said there are multiple ways people can help.

"The No. 1 way you can do it is give. No. 2, you can volunteer. No. 3, you can give food or you can give money. But most important, care about the needs of your neighbors and tell people where they can get help," he said.

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President Biden pledged to end hunger in the U.S. by 2030 and commit $8 billion by the public and private sector to fight hunger and related diseases Wednesday, as he launched the first White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health since 1969.

“I know we can do this, end hunger in this country by 2030, and lower the toll that dietary-related diseases take on too many Americans,” Biden said in opening remarks at the Washington, D.C., conference. “There are a lot of food deserts out there,” he added.

(Pocket-lint) - It’s almost been a decade since The Hunger Games released - the films, anyway. 

The Hunger Games is a franchise that consists of four Blockbuster movies, but it’s based on three equally popular novels by Suzanne Collins. It’s set in a dystopian future in Panem - a North American nation made up of 12 districts, with one Capitol ruling over all of them. As punishment for rebelling 74 years earlier, each district must select a boy and a girl between 12 and 18 to compete in the Hunger Games, an annual competition where the last remaining survivor wins. The Hunger Games are treated like a World Cup in the Capitol. But further away, in Panem, people are resentful about the Games.

This is where we meet the protagonist of the story: Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), a female tribute from District 12. 

The Hunger Games movies generated $2.9 billion at the box office and catapulted Lawrence’s career. (The same year the first Hunger Games released, she won an Oscar.) But the story of the Games doesn’t end with her in the first films. A new Hunger Games movie is coming. Set to premiere in 2023, it’s based on an eponymous prequel novel from Suzanne Collins called The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. It’ll focus on a young President Snow as he navigates being a mentor to a female tribute from District 12. Francis Lawrence is returning as the director, after helming three of the original movies.

With the new movie coming out next year, it’s the perfect time to revisit Panem.

How to watch The Hunger Games movies in order (chronological and release date order)

The Hunger Games movies released in cinemas in chronological order. It’s the best way to watch them. If you don’t know which came first or want to learn a little bit more about the story and how it progresses across the four Hunger Games films, then keep reading. But please keep in mind there may be spoilers. Skip to the bottom of this guide for a bulleted spoiler-free version.

The Hunger Games (2012)

• Directed by: Gary Ross
• Screenplay by: Gary Ross, Suzanne Collins, Bill Ray
• Produced by: Lionsgate
• Distributed by: Lionsgate
• Box office: $694 million
• Run time: 142 minutes
• Based on: The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (Amazon)
  
• Where to stream: Amazon Prime Video

The first film introduces a dystopian continent called Panem, where 12 different districts are ruled over by the Capitol. Every year as a part of a tradition to mark the anniversary of the districts rebelling, each district must send one boy and one girl between the ages of 12 and 18 to compete in a fight to the death known as the Hunger Games. Although the Games are treated like the World Cop in the Capitol, as you get farther away, the people of Panem are more resentful. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) is a 16-year-old in District 12 – the poorest and furthest from the Capitol.

The district does a lottery to decide which children will be chosen, and when Katniss’ younger sister, Primrose (Willow Shields) is chosen, Katniss volunteers in her sister’s place. Soon, she joins Peeta (Josh Hutcherson), the boy chosen from her district, and they are escorted to the Capitol. The Hunger Games was directed by Gary Ross, who wrote the screenplay with Billy Ray and Suzanne Collins.

The Hunger Games Catching Fire (2013)

• Directed by: Francis Lawrence
• Screenplay by: Simon Beaufoy, Michael deBruyn
• Produced by: Lionsgate
• Distributed by: Lionsgate
• Box office: $865 million
• Run time: 146 minutes
• Based on: Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Amazon)
• Where to stream: Amazon Prime Video

Catching Fire picks up with Katniss and Peeta back in District 12 after having outwitted the Capitol. (As part of their winning plan, they feigned falling in love.)

They are visited by President Snow (Donald Sutherland), who reveals to Katniss that her actions have thrown the districts into a state of Rebellion. Snow decides to send Katniss and Peeta on a tour of all the districts in Panem, with the expectation that they will continue their charade and not undermine his power. When Snow is left unconvinced that they are truly in love, it’s revealed that for the first time, for the 75th Hunger Games, the Games’ participants will be selected from previous champions. Katniss – being the only living female winner from District 12 - is ensured a spot in the contest. 

Francis Lawrence is the director of Catching Fire and directed the final two original Hunger Games films as well. He’ll also direct the upcoming prequel movie due out in 2023.

The Hunger Games Mockingjay - Part One (2014)

• Directed by: Francis Lawrence
• Screenplay by: Danny Strong, Peter Craig
• Produced by: Lionsgate
• Distributed by: Lionsgate
• Box office: $755 million
• Run time: 123 minutes
• Based on: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins  (Amazon)
• Where to stream: Amazon Prime Video

Following her escape from the 75th Hunger Games, Katniss is escorted to District 13. It’s a secret underground headquarters for the Rebellion. There, she meets the Rebellion’s president, Alma Coin (Julianne Moore). She asks Katniss to help win the hearts and minds of the other districts, by filming propaganda videos and fighting against the oppression of the Capitol. Peeta, meanwhile, is held captive by the Capitol, being used to try to stop Katniss and suppress the growing revolution that she has started. Eventually, all the districts in Panem will have to choose between the Rebellion and the Capitol. 

The Hunger Games Mockingjay - Part Two (2015)

• Directed by: Francis Lawrence
• Screenplay by: Peter Craig, Danny Strong
• Produced by: Color Force
• Distributed by: Lionsgate
• Box office: $658 million
• Run time: 137 minutes
• Based on: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (Amazon)
• Where to stream: Amazon Prime Video 

In the fourth and currently final Hunger Games movie, the Rebellion attempts to cure Peeta of the Capitol’s brainwashing, which made him try to kill Katniss. Meanwhile, Katniss has helped turn most of the districts to the Rebellion’s side with Alma Coin’s propaganda videos. Katniss is also part of the Star Squad, a group of the most elite soldiers fighting for the Rebellion. They embark on a dangerous mission to the Capitol, with the goal to kill President Snow. The group reluctantly agrees to bring Peeta so he can be included in propaganda videos, although they’re not sure he can be totally trusted yet. 

Where does the new Hunger Games movie fit in this order?

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is an upcoming prequel set 65 years before the events of the original series. When it's available to see in theatres or online, you'd watch it first in a Hunger Games rewatch.

The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

• Directed by: Francis Lawrence
• Screenplay by: Michael Arndt
• Produced by: Color Force
• Distributed by: Lionsgate
• Based on: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins (Amazon)
  
• Where to watch: Releases on 17 November 2023

Like all of the other Hunger Games films, the new movie is based on a novel by Suzanne Collins. It will follow a much younger Coriolanus Snow, who will be played by Tom Blyth. (The character of President Snow is played by Donald Sutherland in the other films set decades later.). Snow’s once-wealthy family is now destitute, but thanks to his success at the Academy, he’s been assigned to mentor a tribute for the 10th Hunger Games. Of course, he’s paired with a tribute from District 12 named Lucy Gray Baird (Rachel Zegler). You can check out the reveal trailer for The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes here.

Francis Lawrence will return to direct this film after directing Catching Fire and both Mockingjay films. 

Spoiler-free version: The Hunger Games movies in order

Chronological and release date order

OK, so here is the at-a-glance version of the guide above. It's free of spoilers.

• The Hunger Games (2012)
• The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part One (2014)
• The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part Two (2015)

Not yet available:

• The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023)

Did you like this?

Then maybe you'll like our movie order viewing guides:

We also have these rumour round-ups on upcoming movies:

Writing by Maggie Tillman. Editing by Britta O'Boyle.

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