Summary! Ming Fearon, Anna J Fitting, Lou Mergler, Jackie Wang.
To reach consensus on a topic for our group’s poster, we combined aspects of each individual’s research topic for formulate a new subject on which to base our studies. As our members were each studying different topics, such as pork, organic chicken, and meat in upscale dining, our group agreed to focus our research on an issue that encompassed factors from each of our areas of interest. We settled to base our poster on the disparities found in availability to organic meat between two economically divergent neighborhoods. We defined organic through the qualifications of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as meat that has been taken from an animal that was never treated by hormones or antibiotics. Such meat is given a USDA certified organic label. To carry out our case study, we selected East Harlem and the Upper East Side, two adjacent yet financially polar communities. We intended for our findings to display the difficulty in purchasing organic meat in East Harlem, when contrasted with the Upper East Side. Such findings would reflect the prevalence of health problems, which are often related to poor diets, in financially underprivileged communities. We wished to connect the rampancy of such health concerns, with the limited accessibility to healthy foods, to which the lower class is often subjected.
Our poster relied chiefly on demographic data, to illustrate the economic conditions affecting the two communities, and case studies of neighborhood supermarkets, In order to display our demographic data, we employed the use of statistic charts. We found most of our statistical information on census websites. We deemed the use of charts to be the most certain method of providing aesthetic convenience to viewers quickly seeking to gain background information. In order to obtain facts on meat availability, we visited supermarkets and recorded the stock and prices of their meats. The data regarding meat was displayed through a number of color coded bar graphs. The stock of each individual market was displayed through a graph, and each meat was ascribed a different color. We found the color coding and combing of graphs to make the bar graphs decipherable at first glance, so that a viewer would not have to sift through multitudes of graphs for figures.
In accordance with our hypothesized outcome, we found organic meat to be more accessible on the Upper East Side than it was in east Harlem. Each of the supermarkets that we visited on the Upper East Side displayed organic meat, frequently boasting various brands and cuts. Conversely, organic meat was difficult to locate in east Harlem. Often times, only organic chicken would by carried by a certain supermarket. Furthermore, organic meat was found to be universally more expensive than it’s conventional counterparts. Although the high prices of organic meat can be attributed to the cost of labor that goes into production, high prices still render a product inaccessible to the economically disadvantaged.
The inaccessibility that east Harlem residents experience with regard to organic meat reflects the larger issue of the lack of availability to proper resources of healthy living that has historically plagued those of modest economic means. The prevalence of health problems such as obesity and diabetes in low income neighborhoods is frequently acknowledged, however, obtainable provisions for a healthy lifestyle continue to be scarce among New York City’s economically disadvantaged.
