Last Monday, in my Latin American and Caribbean Political Systems class we discussed Brazil and the fact that it has the world’s highest income inequality. While this nation is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the elite’s gated communities sit a stone’s throw away from the favelas where many of the poor live without access to running water or electricity. Then on Wednesday I went to my Food, Self, and Society class and learned that approximately 3 million New Yorkers live in food deserts. I guess you can say I had a very “enlightening” week at school, and you’d be right. I started looking at things very differently than before. I started thinking about the neighborhood where I live now and the one where all of my family still lives, Sunnyside and Bayside respectively. I wanted to learn more about how access to food and health differs between these two localities. In particular, I set about to learn about what alternatives there were to the industrial food supply. The following is a list of my top 3 for each neighborhood:
Sunnyside*:
1) Sunnyside CSA: 26 weeks of local, organic veggies will set you back $515. Which comes up to less than $20 a week. This year they are expanding their offerings to include fruit, grains, beans , herbs and even coffee. I want a membership and wish you could pay-as-you-go.
3) Go Natural Health Foods and Juice Bar: Sells mostly dried goods, vitamins and has a tiny fresh section. They also sell prepared foods and fresh squeezed juices. The people who work there are really nice but the last time I went in I just bought almonds, banana chips and dried rosemary and it came up to $10 so can’t say I’d do all of my shopping here.
Bayside*:
1) Health Nuts: Always passed by, never went in and don’t know anyone who actually does all of their food shopping here.
*As you would have noticed by now there were not enough alternatives to round out the “top 3” list and I did not have the heart to name it my “top 2” or worse my “top only.”
Conclusion: The borough of Queens may not necessarily be a food desert but it can definitely be compared to a food prairie; bleak with not much variety.
