Sitting outside her home in Jacksonville, Florida’s most populous city, surrounded by faded blue buildings, Brenda Jenkins reveals a simple wish: to be able to buy fresh produce close to home. “It’s a really tiring thing,” she says.
The 26-year-old American lives in a daily reality for nearly 39 million urban Americans in the country, in a situation described by experts as a “food desert” – a term used for areas with high poverty, where markets selling fruit and fresh vegetables are not easily accessible.
The problem does not mean, exactly, that these products are not available, but that it is difficult to reach points of sale – in a country where the car is a widely used means of transport, but also expensive for many people.
Despite being in Florida’s largest city, Brenda’s mostly African-American neighborhood, Moncrief Park, has no supermarkets. Gas station convenience stores, fast food outlets and small grocery stores are options for buying food. On the shelves, candy, chips, sodas and cookies abound — and it’s almost impossible to find fresh produce other than a few apples and bananas near the checkout counter.
The poorest have no other option to shop. The nearest supermarket is an hour’s walk away, and the public transport system is quite precarious.
A mother of three young children, Brenda has a car and often gives her neighbors a ride to go shopping. “But if I move or if I’m busy, how will they do it?” Sometimes, when her car is in trouble, they have to make do with processed products, whose nutritional value is poor, available at the nearest store. “It’s not healthy, especially for children.”
A few weeks before the midterms, elections that could change the command of the US Congress and the leadership of many states, Brenda Jenkins regrets not having seen any candidate walking around the neighborhood. She also did not receive saints.
She believes that politicians ignore the region because poor people live in the region. “If politicians cared about us, something would have been done [para facilitar o acesso a uma alimentação saudável]”, he says.
human right
Once prosperous, Moncrief Park has been progressively impoverished in recent decades, until it has become less profitable for supermarket chains. “When the last one closed, people lost access to healthy food,” says Mika Hardison-Carr, who runs an urban community garden called White Harvest Farms.
In her view, over time, residents get used to living in a “food desert” and eating ultra-processed or preserved products. “It’s very difficult to change someone’s way of life,” she adds. In this process, it is not just about providing access to fresh products, but teaching how to reintegrate them into the daily lives of the population.
“Poor diet contributes to all the health problems that make us die younger, sicker or fatter. Having access to fresh, healthy products should be a human right.”
Created by the Clara White Mission association with the help of public funds, the urban garden offers free produce to volunteers working in the planting program, and other residents can shop using state-subsidized food stamps — which many rely on to buy food. .
Now, as the Northern Hemisphere passes through autumn, Florida’s sweltering heat begins to subside and volunteers are joining in the planting at White Harvest. To attract the public, the garden prioritizes basic products of African-American cuisine and typical of the South of the USA, such as cabbage.
Sarah Salvatore, one of those responsible, plants flowers that attract insects, in order to avoid the use of pesticides. “It’s easy to eliminate ‘food deserts’. All you have to do is elect people willing to solve these problems — they are solvable, you just don’t invest enough to do so.”
With a wealth of experience honed over 4+ years in journalism, I bring a seasoned voice to the world of news. Currently, I work as a freelance writer and editor, always seeking new opportunities to tell compelling stories in the field of world news.
