Rural households in developing countries face shocks that undermine their wellbeing. The paper analyses to what extent household exposure to shocks influences food access in rural areas of Bangladesh and Ethiopia. Shortage of staple foods is used as a proxy variable for food access. Climatic, agricultural production, health and other shocks were considered. Findings show that the persistence of shock consequences has a positive and significant impact on the household’s probability of facing staple shortage. Additionally, wealth indicators like land size, livestock, assets, human capital and community and social networks exhibit a negative relationship with the likelihood of food shortage.