I believe that everyone deserves and needs access to healthy food. Food access is important for equality, health, and well-being. It is the bare minimum, yet healthy, nutritious food is not accessible to many. Co-ops, small groceries stores, and farmers markets exist mainly within primarily white neighborhoods. Why? White privilege. Along with income, home owning, and more, access to healthy food is a privilege that us white people have. We can work towards and achieve spreading this access to hearty food in communities of need by opening healthy food banks and soup kitchens, like the local Stone Soup, who get fresh produce and meat donated every week to make full courses at no cost every Saturday. Stone Soup works towards food justice and access by providing these free meals.
As humans, we need energy and protein to survive and thrive, which becomes difficult without access to healthy food. Most convenience stores only provide unhealthy snack foods and drinks. Unfortunately, in low-income areas, these stores are commonplace. If a grocery store is a 30-minute drive away, its accessibility is tied to owning a car. This is where healthy food banks come in. We could open up a volunteer-led truck to deliver food at a low to no cost rate in impoverished areas, providing these communities with access to nutritious food. This is just one possible option to make change. In our society, stores like Whole Foods and other high-end grocery stores throw out most pre-made goods after just one day. While I don't recommend taking from the dumpster, I do recommend that we email or make a petition to get foods that will be thrown out and take them out to the homeless and those in need, if Whole Foods will not take this upon themselves.
Additionally, more land is needed to produce food. An article by Melissa Montalvo, a journalist who writes about the food and agriculture industry, says that most farmland, particularly in Burlington, Vermont, is taken up by generations of families. We need to start changing this. We need more farms not only open to selling foods in grocery stores but giving to food banks, soup kitchens, and other organizations advancing food access. If we could create a non-profit farm only focused on giving to those in need, then we could make food access more equitable.
Trying to build farms in areas of need is not always an option, as many low-income areas are found in larger cities, too dense for growing food in large, open spaces. This is why I suggest that we build community accessible gardens. There are many parks in the cities and even smaller street corners where we could build small but thriving gardens. Another idea I have is that volunteers and community members could provide hanging gardens that could be hung from windows, fire escapes, or balconies. These would be large enough to fit some cherry tomatoes, kale, and lettuce, but small enough to fit in tight areas. This would give those in need a chance to have hearty foods close to them.
I know many of the ideas I’ve shared are complex and could seem unattainable, but I know we can do this. I know we can work together towards food justice. Stand up now. Volunteer, donate if you can, brainstorm your ideas, and be an activist for food justice today.
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