Much of the nutritional concern in the western world relates to problems that arise from the abundance of food available and the lack of wisdom exercised by many in selecting from this abundance what is thought to be a healthy diet. This does not mean, however, that we do not also have a concern for those whose everyday existence includes the experience of hunger. In his lecture to the British Nutrition Foundation in November '86, Sir Kenneth Blaxter posed the question, are the resources of the world adequate to provide sufficient food to ensure that future generations of all the people of the world will be free from hunger? Using his great wealth of experience, Sir Kenneth predicted the quantity of food which would be needed and discussed those uncertain factors which will determine whether the earth's resources will be able to meet these requirements.