Posted 3/16/2010 04:35:00 PM by Douglas

This recession is hard. I'm glad to see that someone is finally thinking about the Hipsters. Where are they going to get their organic arugula? Don't worry, they know where to turn.

"I have $80 bucks left!" Magida said. "I'm so happy!"

"I have $12," Mak said with a frown.

The two friends weren't tabulating the cash in their wallets but what remained of the monthly allotment on their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program debit cards, the official new term for what are still known colloquially as food stamps.

Magida, a 30-year-old art school graduate, had been installing museum exhibits for a living until the recession caused arts funding -- and her usual gigs -- to dry up. She applied for food stamps last summer, and since then she's used her $150 in monthly benefits for things like fresh produce, raw honey and fresh-squeezed juices from markets near her house in the neighborhood of Hampden, and soy meat alternatives and gourmet ice cream from a Whole Foods a few miles away.

"I'm eating better than I ever have before," she told me.

Food stamps are way too easy to get and bereft of any shame or stigma if idiots with ironic facial hair and white belts are using it for rabbit with tarragon.