Letters to the Editor
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the 'jicama' issue
funny the last post i read mentioned the headline. i laughed when i read it, because in all my years of being an organic food person to the greatest degree that proximity and cash allows, to my dismay i have only found organic jicama once. yo no se por que.
also found another letter fascinating, about Whole Foods prices being competitive with (expensive) neighborhood produce in the 'hoods. might be an interesting idea for them to consider opening smaller stores without the $19/lb steaks &c and just sell the veggies and fruit.
except then they'd be putting small shops out of business. ack. okay, maybe not such a great idea. but it sure would be swell to get good produce into the 'hoods, somehow.
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re: except then they'd be putting small shops out of business. ack. okay, maybe not such a great idea.
If small shops are not serving the neighborhood, then they have no right being in business. I don't think I always understand this allegience to Mom and Pop stores - they often (at least in the 'hood), stock inferrior goods, they have high prices, their hours are not the best, they're often unclean, and sometimes, the clerks are behind a wall of plexiglass (or whatever). I don't understand why Whole Foods is welcomed in upper end neighborhoods, but will be a detriment in poor areas, as if people of color don't like the same nice things that white folks like.
I reject that notion (not to mention, that lots of people from Harlem and the Bronx and Washington Heights (in fact, all the uptown neighborhoods served by the A and 1 trains) go to Whole FOods and schlep stuff up. Just for the record, the advent of Fresh Direct (food delivered to your home), has forced my once-crummy C Town to stock much better items, including organic, cruelty free and a much wider variety of better quality grub. That's what competition does for any neighborhood, poor ones included.
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About the Park Slope Food Coop
I am a member of the Park Slope Food Coop, as is my roommate and many of my neighbors. It is indeed true that Park Slope is now a very upscale and yuppified neighborhood but the Food Coop was established back in 1971 on the principals of good food for working members back in the day when the 'hood was much more bohemian and artistic and those principals still remain. The fact is that many "yuppies" are too proud or would look down their noses at having to work a few hours a month for lower priced, organic food.
We are very privileged I believe to have access to the coop and the cheaper food. And no doubt the privilege to spare a few hours a month to do our work shifts, which would be hard on say a single working mother. It's great that Brooklyn NY is starting an initiative to take the concept to more needy areas. I applaud the idea.
On another note, I was just horrified and dismayed to hear about AFTER The fact about the bulldozing of the South Central Urban Farm in Los Angeles by yet another greedy developer both in this article and recently in a Video Dog short. My heart went out to those people who were stripped of not only a connection to their land but a vital source of fresh food and an activity that no doubt did wonders bringing to community and family together. Why did Salon not write about this issue before it was too late? I personally would have been ready to write letters and sign petitions to the LA local government as would many of my fellow coop members.
PS - Morrie, jicama is mentioned in the article.
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isn't this the law of supply and demand
I don't quite get it. I live in a San Francisco neighborhood, and there are no major supermarkets within walking distance. In fact, the two closest both just shut down.
There are, however, a myriad of corner stores. These range from the traditional junk food/liquor stores, to a number of hole-in-the-wall produce-only stores. True, there are more liquor stores than produce stores, and the produce stores do not stock organic, but they do have good produce at rock bottom prices. And they are always super-crowded. Since I avoid packaged foods, I really I haven't missed having a large grocery store at all. And no, my neighborhood is not yuppy-white. We are mostly Asian, Russian, and Latino. You can find the yuppies shopping at the Trader Joe's much farther down the bus line.
This has made me rethink my ideas about access to produce in cities. My tiny neighborhood can support this many produce-only stores because of local demand. This makes me think that the reason many inner city neighborhoods don't have access to produce is because there simply isn't demand from the residents, not because they've been "abandoned" by large chains. Believe me, there are plenty of liquor store owners who would shift to cantalopes and oranges if they could realize a profit.
I don't know exactly how to change this, but this program sounds like a start.
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Learning All Around
Maybe the local food activists and farmer's market devotees could learn something from the bodegas and corner stores as well. I live in the suburbs and have a car, and it's still hard to get fresh, local produce, unless you can shop at "the right" time of day. (There's no Whole Foods near where I live.) I've always worked one job during the week and another one on Saturdays, and good luck finding a farmer's market that's open in the evenings after work. I finally found a local co-op, but it closes at 6 and doesn't open at all on weekends! At least I have the option of buying produce from the local grocery store, but it's all imported and tastes like cardboard. But whenever I've spoken to any of my foodie friends about it, they just told me to "tell my boss that I need time off to shop at the farmer's market". I had to wonder if any of them had worked a minimum wage job.
I'm sympathetic to the concerns of local farmers and sellers, but it would help if they'd put themselves in the shoes of someone who works 2 or 3 jobs and doesn't get home until 7 pm on the weekdays and works weekends too.