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The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted many disparities globally. In the United States, the pandemic has drawn attention to key social issues, including those related to the national food system. With unemployment rates rising exponentially, Americans have seen drastic changes within the grocery store, with limited supplies and increased prices resulting in higher levels of food insecurity. These changes mostly affect populations who may already be at an increased risk of contracting COVID-19 or may be financially unstable. While food banks are working tirelessly to assist individuals and families, there is an urgent need for systemic change to ensure that these vulnerable groups are protected, especially in the aftermath of the pandemic.

This article describes a few of the strategies that have proven useful in the training of applied anthropology students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels in preparation for careers in and outside of academia. Reflecting on our experiences as professors in one of the premier applied anthropology programs in the nation, we highlight our efforts to provide solid training through (1) strategies to enhance professionalization skills for both academic and non-academic work, (2) the offering of an international and interdisciplinary field school, (3) the establishment of domestic training opportunities that involve partnerships with not-for-profit organizations as well as with private sector agencies, and (4) the offering of curricula that emphasize the ethics of research and practice and that prepare future instructors for the teaching of applied anthropology.

For those of us working in the public sector (or with public monies) there are particular strategies that are applied in the process of getting IRB (Institutional Review Board) approval and in justifying and securing funding. This paper takes a quick glimpse into the implications of some of the rhetorical and methodological approaches taken in rationalizing interventions and research work on HIV in Africa. The goal of this is to provoke ourselves, as practicing anthropologists, to reflect on and discuss the ways in which our writing—grants, evaluations, reports and articles—influence conceptions of risk and the translation of required IRB ethical principles into practice. In order to do this, we discuss the ways in which rhetoric and numbers are used by "us" and interpreted by other people. We then extend the discussion to some ethical issues we encountered in our attempts to develop a protocol for an HIV and food security intervention in Lesotho. Data for this paper are drawn from interviews conducted with representatives from government agencies, NGOs, Faith-Based Organizations, and international agencies, as well as from interviews and small group discussions with community leaders, health workers and chiefs, and informal observations and conversations with friends and colleagues.