Food deserts / 'Food swamps'

itsjrd1964
Posts: 1231
Joined: 28 Jul 2018 07:38

Food deserts / 'Food swamps'

Postby itsjrd1964 » 19 Aug 2018 09:39

The article refers to the newer 'food swamps' term as:
...areas where fast-food options and convenience stores outnumber healthy food options.


Here's a not-very-surprising but still a telling graphic about where the good food/bad food and deserts/swamps are in Dallas, as well as related levels of mortality.
(sorry the graphic is so big, I couldn't figure out the code to make it smaller)

Image

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/public- ... ood-swamps

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Yak_Forger
Posts: 5
Joined: 24 Sep 2018 09:41

Re: Food deserts / 'Food swamps'

Postby Yak_Forger » 24 Sep 2018 11:31

I've read the article and it's quite great ; to make it shorter, the problem is that low income families have to drive a longer time to buy food, so it's a non-negligible investment in time and money (both directly due to fuel prices, and indirectly due to the fact that the time you take driving to the supermarket is time you're not spending working), which means that these families buy processed, frozen foods so that they don't have to drive there every 3 days but every 3 weeks... and of course, they're suffering from not eating enough fresh veggies, fruits and all other sorts of healthy food. I'm a French expat and we have the same problem "at home", ironically enough, in the countryside ; farms work for big companies, so people can't buy from them, they have to buy food from supermarkets which are far away, which ends up in people in the countryside, ironically enough, not eating enough fresh, healthy food.
Many people are growing veggies, have a chicken coop or something like that, but not everyone can do that (even in the countryside, many households have very little yards, or sometimes don't even have one), which results in ... well, you've gotten the picture by now.

itsjrd1964
Posts: 1231
Joined: 28 Jul 2018 07:38

Re: Food deserts / 'Food swamps'

Postby itsjrd1964 » 24 May 2019 02:16

Dallas couldn't buy its way out of the food desert, so now it's hoping to plant a few small seeds

Dallas' city officials change course on trying to stem the tide of food deserts, by looking at smaller targets instead of one (or a few) larger ones, like what happened with a recent addition at Simpson Stuart/Bonnie View. A Save A Lot store located there for a time, but now the store sign has the "Save" part without the "a Lot", and a further check online shows the store now as a place called Save You More. It's not clear what happens to the city's $3 million in this case--either the city feels like the $$$ was invested well because the store is still open and not in too bad a shape, or, they lost their investment because the store chain that had been there is no longer there.

Now, the City is accepting proposals, but the article (nor the City?) isn't clear as to exactly who would be an ideal candidate. The "Healthy Food Dallas Initiative" has $250,000 to dole out to those who:
"directly benefit residents living in low and moderate income areas with little access to healthy food Dallas by providing healthy food access, creating jobs, and revitalizing eligible neighborhoods."


Our Mr. Wilonsky ends the article by turning to the head of Bonton Farms, Daron Babcock, who has seen moderate-to-well-received attention and business for his local farm/storefront/cafe concept (and has been the subject of DMN coverage in past articles) on the south end of Bexar Street in the Bonton area of South Dallas. Babcock is seen as an example of someone who would be a good recipient of funds from the City's initiative. He and his wife have expanded their reach into cooking classes and outreach to other groups in other parts of the community, as well as outside the city--far outside--to Brazil.

https://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/comm ... mall-seeds