The leader of the criminal gang was once the boss of the late viper pilot Kat before the cylon attack. in the days when she had been a smuggler.
Among the huge number of props that were sold after the end of this series there was a large number of prop food rations such as those given away by Baltar.
According to Ronald D. Moore's commentary (podcast/DVD), the original title for this episode was "A Drowning Woman". The title would have referred to Galactica herself, as the ship is being rescued from "death".