The textbook offers an introduction to the elementary connection between social work and the human need for food. At present, hunger as a basic human need has become a secondary issue in social work, although the two are constitutively linked. The tasks of social work lie in the fulfilment of basic human needs, especially in its historical predecessors.

For the first time, this introduction provides an overview of the multi-layered aspects of social work with regard to satisfying the need for hunger in socio-historical terms and in various constellations of social work, and also focuses on the abuse of power in educational contexts. Depending on social developments and the resulting life situations, hunger and food poverty are recurring major challenges and as such must be integrated into socio-educational thinking and reflected in action. This textbook provides contexts and suggestions for new approaches in this area.