laurenfelton

I was reading Jennifer’s blog about Highland Park’s Farmers Market, which I also sometimes go to on Fridays, and was intrigued by some of the points she brought up about the social divide when it comes to healthy available foods. Aside from the Farmers Market, the divide is pretty obvious to anyone who has attempted to go grocery shopping in New Brunswick (where I go to school, at Rutgers). The only supermarket here is C-Town, which is basically a fly-infested shithole full of “food for savings,” which isn’t all that surprising given that the supermarket is geared towards low-income families. That’s a demographic that’s very easy for grocery stores to take advantage of… and they do.

Between weekly sales, manager specials, discounts for buying in bulk, and coupons that come out with each purchase using a store card, it’s actually a lot easier to save money by shopping at Stop & Shop, which is geared more towards its white, largely Jewish population, and therefore cleaner, healthier, and more vegetarian and Kosher-friendly than C-Town. However, it’s not always possible for New Brunswick families to shop there, either because they don’t have the transportation to get there or can’t afford to buy in bulk, regardless of the money it will save them in the long run.

As the Racialicious article I posted before mentions, Eric Schlosser’s Fast Food Nation elaborates on the harmful effects of labor that particularly affects people of color, but makes no mention of race in relation to food justice... or the fact that most proponents of the food reform movement are wealthy white men.

(Be sure to visit Jennifer’s blog for more great posts about food and chai and other lovely things!)