Comments on: Would You Buy Your Groceries Here?

By: What’s on Your Plate? : EcoLocalizer

What’s on Your Plate? : EcoLocalizer — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 09:42:14 +0000

[...] school lunches, how their food is grown, how far it has traveled, how it is packaged and prepared, food access, farmers markets and what healthy, sustainable options exist where they live. Director Catherine [...]

By: Cook Food: A Manualfesto for Easy, Healthy, Local Eating : EcoLocalizer

Cook Food: A Manualfesto for Easy, Healthy, Local Eating : EcoLocalizer — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 03:40:01 +0000

[...] but the book also delves into more complex issues surrounding factory farming, sustainability, food access and how we define what is meant by “healthy”. In the introduction Ms. Jervis [...]

By: Ellen Acton

Ellen Acton — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:45:09 +0000

I used to grow my own – did so for many years in fact, but now live in a condo and am hampered by age & ability (read “disability). I too decry the options available, especially in lower income areas of our cities. There is even a lack of the big grocery stores in the inner city, not to mention wholesale stores. And when a neighborhood changes and becomes more racially & ethnically diverse, I’ve noticed that the local stores that are there increase the amount of alcohol available & reduce the fresh produce sections. Didn’t Spike Lee make a movie about the number of gun shops & liquor stores in the inner cities? We need to make a reverse image one of the lack of healthy alternatives! Any takers?

By: Abira Ali

Abira Ali — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:51:16 +0000

I was moved by Rhonda Winters article, what we accept as food these days is more like brightly packaged edible toys. I admired the close up of the detritus inside the cooler with old spoons and tiny junk floating on a sea of green mold above the Gogerts, now that is journalism.

By: Rhonda Winter

Rhonda Winter — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 15:50:01 +0000

I agree with you both that growing our own food is where we all are heading. Increased local production of healthy seasonal fruits and vegetables is a sensible sustainable solution to increasing our food options. It will also help us to lower obesity rates and circumvent the massive rivers of high fructose corn syrup that our nation is drowning in.

By: Becky Striepe

Becky Striepe — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:41:33 +0000

Great post! You’re so right…the disparities between food options for wealthier vs lower-income areas are upsetting. I think education can make a big difference, and love the above comment about teaching folks to grow their own fresh fruits and veggies.

By: Cate

Cate — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:20:35 +0000

Gag me. That first photo? You should have given a disclaimer like CakeWrecks does! Luckily, I finished breakfast.

I live in rural VA. We not only have local food–farms and orchards nearby–we have a great Farmer’s Market where enough meat is sold that the prices are competitive with the nearby Food Lion’s selection of industry-raised meat.

Still, VA (and like many areas around the country) has a problem with obesity. Look at what’s on sale–as you pointed out–and you’ll see why. High fat, high salt, and high fructose corn syrup. Where’s the actual food?
It’s the same for what’s given out at the nearby food bank, though there is a local farm that generously donates organic eggs.
What I think, for the food bank, is that they should give out seeds and pots or started potted food plants (at least in Spring). What’s that about “teach a man to fish”?