A recent report on Chicago’s NBC news reported that nearly 600,000 Chicagoans live in a food desert where people don’t live close to any leading grocery stores that provide fresh, quality foods. This makes it difficult for families. One woman from the Hyde Park area talked about it in the report, stating it is very hard to walk to the grocery store then carry your young child and groceries back home.
One food desert researcher states that no fresh products in an area leads to illnesses such as diabetes and cancer. The food deserts are in mostly African-American areas, which proves one reason why African-Americans have a higher rate of various diseases like diabetes.
One solution is groceries on wheels and Peapod is helping this problem with their delivery service. When people living in these areas have no computers to order their groceries the local public schools are allowing people to come in and place their orders online.
This report shows the importance of sharing knowledge to help resolve serious issues in our communities that lead to sickness and disease.
Michelle Obama released a video talking about food deserts and childhood obesity earlier this year.
You can watch NBC’s the full report on video below:
Comments
It is a truly sad reality that fresh healthy food is not available to people just because of the neighborhood they live in. How can we combat disease and obesity - obviously the free market cannot correct the situation. Hopefully more will be aware of this. There's a great book out on urban farming that I want to read; perhaps that will be a future trend.
Yes, Tina T. I was reading about the urban farming going on in Detroit. That is another solution.
Great article, Marguerite, and how true. Besides the public schools making their computers available, a lot of public libraries do too. It's another free computer resource for many.
OMG! Are you kidding me. I guess I should be thankful for the Southwest Burbs then. It's not near, near, but it's at least a ten minute drive to Pete's Market (35 minute wait for a bus otherwise), and there's the Farmer's Market within walking distance here in Evergreen Park, I feel bad for all of you who can't get fresh produce. I'm seriously addicted to melons right now and I used to loath watermelon. lol
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