Relevant Food Systems For Our Communities
This is Part 2 of a multiphase series about the problem of food injustice and our plan to resolve it. This edition sets the stage for why this is such a complex issue.
Every community deserves access to affordable, culturally relevant food. Our current food system is unsustainable, inefficient, and creates barriers to nutrition for marginalized communities.
Problem
17.7% of people in the United States live in a food desert-- a low-income area with minimal access to healthy food stores or grocery stores. Major-chain grocery store corporations have been actively moving out of medium-to-low income areas. In place of grocery stores arise fast food stores and corner stores offering affordable yet unhealthy options. When food from your culture is mislabeled as “unhealthy” or fast food takes over poor neighborhoods, residents are stuck with limited, and often less-healthy, options. Over time, something as simple as a lack of grocery stores creates a systemic classism crisis and ends up damaging the physical health of our entire community.
Our Plan
Everyone eats differently and we want to provide the healthiest options to each of these communities.
Ask our culturally different communities what their pressing food needs are. Do their grocery stores have culturally relevant food? Do they have access to understanding a healthy diet? Do bodegas have enough fruits and vegetables?
Distribute unsold food items to food pantries and soup kitchens, preventing food waste.
Improve access, usability, and monetary amount of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) by expanding the eligible products and allowing for online delivery.
Advance community education around healthy eating.
Expand the growth of local grocery shops, bodegas, and street vendors.
This Matters
Healthy food is a human right, and yet many people do not have consistent access to a diet that will meet their nutritional needs as well as their cultural traditions. It is essential to value community voices in determining food distribution as everyone’s needs and circumstances are unique.