The Good Food Revolution?

Howard Husock’s report “Turning Food Deserts into Oases – Why New York’s Public Housing Should Encourage Commercial Development” was published by the Manhattan Institute and selected for this reaction paper. The report tells us about the incentives offered in New York City (NYC) to provide access to fresh food for an affordable price in low-income neighborhoods. Husock also discusses the shortage of supermarkets in NYC, New York City Housing Authority’s (NYCHA’s) historical anti-commercial bias, NYCHA’s food deserts, changing NYCHA food deserts into oases, and the commercial rent revenue NYCHA could make from commercial development on NYCHA property.

What happens if there were no more grocery stores or the economy suffered food shortage that threatened your families ability to eat? What do you do? How will you sustain? These are the questions that Finley was prepared to fight for in his local south Los Angeles neighborhood, and these are the very questions Finley wants to help communities nationwide, including Sacramento, prepared to answer for themselves.

(Love & Das, 2016, para. 7). However, Love and Das (2016) expound on the inefficiency of this solution by stating that it “does not bridge the gaps to healthy food” because of their inability to invest in the community and understand their needs (para 12). Using vivid language throughout the article, the authors make their point emotionally impactful by emphasizing that big-chain grocery stores “lur[ed…] to the hood” leave when they no longer profit from maintaining a store in these neighborhoods (Love & Das, 2016, para. 9). Rightfully criticizing the existing solution, the authors expose the superficiality and inefficient manner of only bringing in more stores into neighborhoods. Moreover, by criticizing the superficiality of the existing solution, the authors suggest that eliminating food deserts involves a more personal investment into the betterment of the community. Overall, Love and Das permit the readers to gain an emotional insight on the impact food deserts have on low-income populations and understand the limiting nutrition conditions by appealing to

In the book Good Food Revolution, it focuses on the main point of Will Allen’s life and how he has always been around food. I believe the book does a good job with tying in different connections and references with food and with Will Allen since he has grown up around food ever since he was little. When the book states “The fate of a seed can be predicted by the health of the soil where it takes the root” I believe that Will Allen is referring and connecting it back to himself. I believe he relates this to himself because a plant's roots are surrounded by soil and Will Allen has planted his roots around farming and food. A plant needs soil to survive and Will Allen needed farming to survive. His whole life and job has revolved around planting. A plant lives off of what it knows and its surroundings and Will Allen did the same. His parents planted the seed to get the initial start in farming so he picks up where they left off. Even though he was not into farming when he was younger he learned to grow and find a  passion for farming as he grew older because it has always been around him. No matter where he went he held onto farming because that is all he knew. I believe this connection between Will Allen and the quote about the plant enhances and helps tell the story of how Will Allen got involved in farming.

Many historians believe that the most significant “food revolution” was the Neolithic Revolution. This “food revolution” dramatically changed the way food was produced. This change had a major political, social, and economic impact on societies and regions. Due to this, many new advances were produced. This helped civilization to become more sophisticated, more civilized, and more organized.

In South Central, Los Angeles, there is a food epidemic taking place among the population. For miles and miles, the only easily attainable food source is fast food; causing the overconsumption of un-nutritious, greasy, and fattening food. This is the problem brought to the public’s attention by speaker Ron Finley in his Ted Talks speech, “A Guerilla Gardener in South Central L.A.” Finley explains how everywhere he looks in his native South Central, all he sees are fast food chains and Dialysis clinics opened due to the lack of nutritious food. Finley views the lack of a healthy food source as a serious problem, and brings up

It’s no secret, Americans love their processed, energy-rich foods. And undeniably, this love affair has led to an obesity epidemic. In spite of the evidence against processed food, however, there are some who believe the problem may hold the key to the solution. David Freedman, author of “How Junk Food Could End Obesity,” criticizes Michael Pollan for his argument in support of unprocessed, local foods due its impracticality. Freedman’s criticism is based on the idea that “It makes a lot more sense to look for small, beneficial changes in food than it does to hold out for big changes in what people eat that have no realistic chance of happening” (Freedman Sec. 1). He contends that processed foods already play a big part in our diets, so instead of trying to expand the wholesome food business, we should try to make processed foods healthier. Freedman’s argument, however, overlooks many negative effects of processed foods and conventional farming. Michael Pollan’s wholesome food movements takes into account not only the obesity problem, but also the quality of the environment and the rights of farmers. Although Pollan’s solution to obesity may not seem the most efficient or time effective, the trades offs it provides in terms of environmental sustainability and the well-being of farmers outweigh the loss of efficiency.

“Describing her grocery shopping routine, a poor mother from South Boston with a 3-year-old: I get my food stamps on the 5th and I try to make them last for a month, but that’s really difficult because toddlers waste a lot of food”. Poor parent’s struggle to have enough money for groceries, and some have to wait and rely on food stamps. “When poor mother’s kids refuse what she cooks, she thinks of things she could have purchased instead.” In other words poor Mother’s don’t have enough money to just buy something that is going to go to waste. Poor Mother’s worried about their kids rejecting food, because not only don’t they have money for food but buying something that is going to go to waste isn’t going to be worth spending the money.

Poverty is an issue that can be discussed at great lengths, but the real challenge is finding effective ways to reduce or eradicate poverty. It is important to spend quality time developing approaches to the issue of poverty and how to alleviate it. Individuals living in poverty lead a life of limited opportunities and one of these limited opportunities is access to good quality healthy food. The American Nutrition Association considers this lack of access as a Food Desert defined as, “parts of the country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas” ("USDA Defines Food Deserts | American Nutrition Association," n.d.). One way in which American’s can work towards a future with less poverty and eventually one with little to no poverty would be to eliminate the existence of Food Deserts.

1. In her speech, Jane Fonda spoke about aging and the effect that it can have on a person. Fonda talked about “Life’s Third act” or the last three decades of a person’s life. Fonda explained that the advances in medicine and technology enabled the human race to live longer than before (Fonda, 2012). According to Fonda, humans are living on average, thirty years longer than past generations. The human life span has been extended and humans are spending a great deal of their lives in older age (Fonda, 2012). Fonda explains that we should not accept aging as a decline to our mental and physical capacity. According to her, our spirits do not age but mature over time which explains why people over the age of fifty are generally happier, less

Response to Shakespeare's Presentation of the Responsibilities and Obligations Placed on Sons by Fathers in Hamlet

In order to further support low-income communities and improve this population’s health the federal government needs to not only continue with the supplemental food programs they’ve already put in place, but enhance them by considering the barriers and address them. The government can intervene by integrating other components to the programs that further support people and help eliminate the main barrier by providing them direct access to grocery stores and healthier options. In order for government resources to be more effective in areas where there are limited grocery store options in the community, the government could begin by providing transportation services in areas where grocery stores are limited or if any at all. Providing transportation to those who are receiving government resources like WIC and SNAP would allow families to exhaust

In the story The Good Food Revolution, Will Allen talks about his struggles as an African American male trying to live out his dream of sustaining a profitable farming career while doing well for the community. What started as a small roadside market is now a national business which helps low-income families gain access to healthy foods and also helps build a better community. Throughout his journey, Allen experienced countless setbacks and was exposed to several issues dealing with race. Access to healthy food is a struggle for the poor, and in particular, African Americans.

The Elizabeth era is a unique period in Western European history as it is characterized by a woman being in a charge of a successful reign. During Queen Elizabeth’s monarchy, Renaissance became more widespread and more of the nobility became educated in a humanist manner. Also, because Protestantism was the official religion of the reign, more men of lower scales received an education as well. William Shakespeare was one of those men. Theatre hit a hit point during Elizabethan England and Shakespeare wrote many plays, including As You Like It. Although the play is a comedy, many aspects from the story reflect trends of the England’s Elizabethan period.

As ascertained from Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, there is an obesity epidemic spreading throughout adolescence in America, which stems from three major areas exposed to children: school, the home, and the mainstream food industry. Jamie Oliver has called out to all adults to join him in a revolution, one that will change the way the next generation will eat, learn about food, and hopefully shape the future environmental climate, as well as, future political climate on the issue of food. On his website it states that “an astounding 41 million children under the age of five are overweight or obese” (Oliver). Being an obese child puts them at a significantly higher risk to be an obese adult and poses potential