Alot of places in big inner cities, all they have is fast food places and quick marts. Grocery stores are nowhere to be seen until you ride an hour or so on the transit systems which involve a number of buses and subways. One lady told me she spent 3 hours of her day, 6 dollars on transportation to get a 1 dollar tomato. This has alot to do with zoning and politics. Inner cites are called by the organic movement as "food deserts" because they lack fresh food in a large part of the inner city.
There has been some movements to hold farmer's markets in inner cities, but the process is slow cause generation after generation have ate nothing but junk food, so they have no idea how to prepare and cook fresh food. Some dont even own pots and pans and dont know how to cook period...everything they eat comes from fast food stores and quick marts because that is all that is around for at least 15-20 miles sometimes more.
It is a real health crisis that is rarely discussed in the media.
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So yes it is more than just about lifestyle choices for some. One could say to them "just, move"...that takes money which many in the inner city dont have...the ones that do have it, are making money off the ones that dont. Alot more has to change than just location to overcome generations of inner city lifestyle. Many dont know how to read, much less follow a recipe or books on how to cook, plus, intergenerational patterns of eating are difficult to change in a population that change comes to very slowly because survival is always the most important thing on their minds If it was any other country, the US would be sending the peace corp in to help teach good nutrition and literacy,but because it is too close up, we only see parts of the whole picture and never see it in its entirety.
Jojo
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All art is a kind of confession, more or less oblique. All artists, if they are to survive, are forced, at last, to tell the whole story; to vomit the anguish up.
-James Baldwin