This report, prepared by the staff of the Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs of the U. S. Senate, is intended as a profile of the "half-full, half-empty plate which the Federal food programs represent to the nation's poor." The report focuses on various aspects of poverty and hunger such as: (1) poverty in the nation--the poverty line, poverty in central cities, the war on hunger, and poverty trends; (2) poverty and hunger at the county level--analysis methods and drawbacks in using county data, the 1973 hunger counties, poverty counties, failure-to-feed counties, and an analysis of regional differences; (3) the story behind the statistics--the situation in the South, outstanding counties, counties with highest and lowest participation levels, and State comparisons; and, (4) the administration of the food programs. Tables appended in illustration reflect data for hunger counties (1973); poverty counties; poverty trends; summary of poverty and hunger levels by States; analyses of regional differences by standard Federal regions, and the distribution of counties by participation rate; counties with no Federal food programs; failure-to-feed counties; counties with large Indian populations; counties feeding 10 percent or less of the poor; counties feeding 90 or more percent of the poor; and, other counties not covered by these categories. A bibliography on poverty and Federal food programs is appended. (RJ)