Food Deserts

Food Deserts

Helen Henry
English 102-S
September 20, 2011

Fit or Fat? Do We Have a Choice?


As I waited for the bus, at the intersection of 16th Street and Pulaski Road, I noticed where there used to be a fresh meat market, there’s now a fast food restaurant. On another corner, where there used to be a fresh fruit and vegetable store, there is now a soul food restaurant. Growing up as a child, living in North Lawndale seemed to be a promising place to give your family a healthy and safe lifestyle. However, North Lawndale of today has tremendously changed. The gangs and drug activity has changed the neighborhood drastically. What’s more, North Lawndale falls short in providing many of the basic necessities that stabilize a neighborhood. Furthermore, there hasn’t been a decent place to buy fresh food in the North Lawndale area for years. My eighty-five year old grandmother, who has been a homeowner and a resident of North Lawndale since 1952, relies on my older sister and myself to drive her three and a half miles to Cicero, IL for groceries. She tells us stories on how 16th Street used to be flooded with grocery stores and other shops before the riots in 1968. After the riots, store owners moved away, and no one ever rebuilt. For the past forty years, my there hasn’t been a decent place to shop for groceries in the North Lawndale area.
In the Chicago land area, over 400,000 residents live in what’s known as a food desert. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a food desert is an area that lacks access to affordable fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low fat milk, and other foods that make up the full range of a healthy diet. However, the same area is flooded with convenient stores, and fast food restaurants. In an interview with Natalie Moore of WBEZ 91.5, Mayor Rahm Emanuel declared that he will take on the problem of food deserts in Chicago. He declared that he will do whatever it takes to eliminate the affected areas. Mari Gallagher,...