Get Involved with Healthy Food: Dissolve the Food Desert

Healthy food for  reasonably-educated, middle-class Americans, is a matter of choice: We have the option to buy organic, local, ethically-raised food at our farmer's markets, upscale grocers and community gardens. Even if we don't know much about ourselves, we certainly know a few people who know something and don't mind talking about it.

The issue of the day (and of this article) is to address those living outside of "our circles" in what's called a "food desert." People living in food deserts have little-to-no access to fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and meats.  Relegated to corner markets, convenience stores and gas stations, mainstream grocery stores in food deserts are typically outside a 3-5 mile radius, but are also stuffed with fast-food restaurants.   When generations of communities live in food deserts, they lose the connection to the land; some of the adults might recall a time where they had access to better food, but many of the children don't understand that real, healthy food comes from healthy ground and clean water. They don't know what real, healthy food is.

In 2009, the USDA performed a study on the characteristics of the population living in food deserts:

2.3 million (2.2%) of all U.S. households live more than a mile from a supermarket and do not have access to a vehicle
3.4 million (3.2%) of all U.S. households live between .5 to a mile and do not have access to a vehicle
4.4% of households in rural areas live more than 1 mile from the supermarket AND do not have access to a vehicle.
22% - Percent of households in low income urban areas living 1/2 to 1 mile from a supermarket with no access to a vehicle.
2001 survey found that nearly 6 percent of U.S. households did not always have food due to access related problems.

Food deserts incite a host of health problems; and while many people do understand that it is possible that the food they are consuming is the underlying cause of their ails, there is little actual choice to purchase healthy food in its place; further, marketing executives have literally brainwashed the consumer to believe that fast food is actually cheaper than healthy food, which pound-for-pound is an outright lie.

This is why it's especially important that if you have children to educate them to understand the difference between food and product. Better still, if you have opportunity, see if your child's school will offer part of their schoolyards to edible plants or a community garden.

Find and promote community gardens; if there's not one in your neighborhood, start one and invite your neighbors. Then encourage them or their neighbors to start one in the next neighborhood over;  it would be extremely beneficial to see community gardens as the focal point of a neighborhood, with a weekly farmer's market not far behind. Maybe the two ideas can be combined and a community garden can pay for itself with weekly sales of fresh produce for the area.

Encourage your farmer's market to run a test-market in low-income neighborhoods. In Providence, our Farmer's Markets accept EBT cards and give an incentive to use them: they offer $5 worth of extra Market Dollars to encourage those who need it most to be able to make the shift from a processed food diet to one consisting mostly of vegetables and some locally-raised meats. Check to see if your Farmer's Market accepts EBT cards, and then let people know about it!

See if the library in a needy neighborhood would allow a simple lecture on how to prepare, use and store vegetables properly. Start a cooking club. Have a bake sale.

Many food deserts are places where a large group of people are simply uninformed of what is available to them; and many of the residents would likely be enthusiastic to grow food in their neighborhood that reflect the diverse personalities and cultures of the neighborhood. Having run 3 community gardens in both affluent and poverty-stricken neighborhoods, my experience has been that enthusiasm knows no economic class borders: people love to grow their own. It's a symbol of independence; it's a craft, a skill, a science. Let's all get involved in healthy food!

Photo credit: Sarah Rich at VisionsForTomorrow