Best Food Writing 2011 by Holly Hughes

Author:Holly Hughes
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780738215310
Publisher: Da Capo Press

Virtual Grocery Store

Across the state line in Kansas City, Kan., Nathan Barnes is tired of waiting for the grocery stores to stake out a corner of his neighborhood, where 20,000 residents are stranded without a single grocery. “I can safely say, ‘Welcome to the Sahara Desert of food deserts,’” said Barnes, county commissioner for District 1, an area that includes the Juniper Gardens housing project. “The problem is huge in Wyandotte County.”

Instead of wooing a typical brick-and-mortar store, Barnes is working to create a “virtual grocery store.” “I figured if I can’t get them to come to us, we’d go to them,” he says. “You can’t place enough grocery stores on the ground to satisfy the overwhelming need.”

As a boy, Barnes delivered groceries from a Chinese grocery store using his bicycle. That experience spurred him to research grocery delivery services. “I thought it was an original idea,” Barnes said good-naturedly. “But then I found the same idea splattered all over the Internet.”

A similar program already is serving Baltimore residents who order groceries online for pick-up once a week at the local library. For his part, Barnes has been lobbying Washington legislators and organizing a steering committee in hopes of snagging some of the $400 million pledged by the Obama administration to eradicate food deserts.

Besides creating a place for residents to buy a carton of milk, a loaf of bread and fresh produce, Barnes envisions a virtual grocery store as a way to offer specialized nutrition information. For instance, customers with heart problems or diabetes could request foods that best suit their health needs.

“There’s a wealth of opportunities here. But right now we’ve got a lot of misplaced pieces to the puzzle,” he said. “It’s a matter of getting somebody to head this up.”

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