if you are stuck somewhere like much of the vast suburban wasteland around L.A. or many other places and you don’t have a car, you don’t have good choices. you don’t really know what you are talking about…every human being has to eat, and clearly people in these circumstances are getting food somehow, but it is very bad food. i’ve experienced this kind of situation after getting a DUI and losing my license living like 4 miles from the nearest grocery store…it really sucks and it is really hard. a lot of people are in this kind of situation. “bring water to the desert” describes it perfectily.

this is even worse if you are trying to be a vegetarian or vegan…most of the junk food you can find at places like 7-11 or whatever contains animal products (and often chemicals galore). i think, in fact, that these food deserts are (paradoxically?) a big part of the current obesity problem, but that’s another story.

What needs to happen is someone needs to replicate that model, but with products more based on things like whole grains, soy, legumes, etc. that are the foundation of a very inexpensive, but also very healthy diet. I mean, I can cook very healthy food and survive on like $10-15 a week or so, it’s not so hard.

In short, they need to adjust each store based on the reality of the situation. Save the emu eggs and $15 sushi rolls and stuff for Bev Hills branch, ya’know?

Get poor people hooked on bean and rice burritos and lentil soup and such things that are not only delicious, but also very filling and very cheap. Given time and opportunity, a lot of people would start choosing stuff like that over McDonalds and utter crap from convenience stores.

Such stores could also offer free cooking classes to teach people how to eat healthily on very little money.

We don’t need any more white savior projects. What might be helpful is to actually consider asset-based community development, instead of relying on the existing system of exploitation that only benefits those on the top.

Food access and insecurity is mired in structural and system racism. For once, I’d like to see platforms such as Food + Tech Connect have the uncomfortable conversation around who actually benefits from food + tech. Perhaps then we may actually get closer to real and sustainable solutions. That said, I am looking forward to hearing about the results and completion of the SNAP Online Purchasing Pilot that Amazon is participating in.

MOST VENTURE CAPITALISTS WOULD NEVER INVEST INTO FOODIE+TECH PROJECTS THAT DISMANTLE THE SYSTEMIC RACISM THEY COLLECTIVELY BENEFIT FROM

http://www.sistahvegan.com/2015/11/27/opinion-usa-venture-capitalists-would-never-invest-foodietech-project-if-it-dismantled-the-systemic-racism-they-collectively-benefit-from/

What kind of job creation? Retail food jobs pay too low to help anyone elevate their financial situation, and the scheduling structure often prohibits workers from securing additional work.