Reply #3: A good start, but hardly sufficient to address the problem of food deserts

[frazzled]

First of all, except for those in mild or warm climates, food gardens are seasonal. (In some parts of the US, the growing season is 3 months or less.) Yes, you can learn to can or preserve in other ways, but let's be realistic. A working-poor family living in an urban area in an apartment building with little to no space and/or potentially toxic soil, 3 jobs and 6 kids, doesn't have the time or resources to garden in this way. Not even 100 square feet. We have community gardens here in Chicago, but they are hardly sufficient.

Second, vegetables alone are not the problem. A good diet needs some grains and proteins, fruits, etc. When you have no store in your neighborhood besides a 7/11, this is an issue.

We need to find ways to incentivize responsible supermarkets to move into poor urban neighborhoods. If it means government subsidies to allow them to build and operate there, I think that's a good idea. These people need aluminum foil and boxes of whole grain rice, and bread and milk and dairy products to feed their families. Bring it and they will come. As much as I have boycotted Whole Foods over these last months, I must say that in Chicago they did a big service by building a store on the edge of the South Side (on Roosevelt Road). This store attracts a large African American clientele from neighborhoods to the south and west, as well as yuppier people from the South Loop. And everyone's carts are filled with fresh vegetables. I don't know how they afford to shop there regularly, because I can't, but they do. There are also food coops and other types of community groceries that could arise, if we tried.

Lastly, there's education, education, education.