Summary Until recently the consequences of poverty for food, and the food element in social exclusion, have been sidelined in post‐war Britain, both by those working on food and nutrition and by those in social policy. The article draws on ideas about entitlement and access to food elaborated in the South to illuminate the problems faced by the poor in the North in obtaining food, where the social and material conditions of poverty largely preclude economic and physical access to food appropriate for health. Empirical evidence of the consequences in terms of nutritional outcomes is reviewed, and the article concludes with a summary of recent and potential policy options to address this fundamental issue.