Food, Health, and Culture in Latino Los Angeles by Portnoy Sarah;

Author:Portnoy, Sarah;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Chapter 5

Where Is Trader Joe’s?

Food Deserts in Latino Los Angeles

This chapter tells the story of inequities in the food system in areas like South L.A.: a vast, low-income, Latino and African-American neighborhood near downtown Los Angeles, through the life of one fictionalized resident, Marina Gutierrez. Even though Marina is not a real person, her life resembles those of thousands of other low-income Latina immigrant mothers. On a daily basis, she struggles to provide fresh, healthy, culturally appropriate food for her family. Marina’s story reveals the challenges in our industrial food system, one in which processed foods are heavily subsidized by the government, while fresh fruit and vegetables are less affordable. In this chapter, I examine the challenges of the lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables and its consequences: the dramatic rise in food-related diseases, particularly diabetes and obesity, which plague many low-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles. In addition, I look at why diabetes afflicts the Latino communities in particular, examine the effects of acculturation on Latino immigrant families, and explore the reasons why processed foods are more affordable than fresh fruits and vegetables for those on a limited budget. Finally, I describe how, during the second half of the twentieth century, as a result of racial discrimination, poverty, and white flight, many of today’s low-income Latino neighborhoods have become food deserts. During the later decades of the twentieth century, in neighborhoods such as Marina’s, grocery stores closed down and, over time, became dominated by liquor stores, vacant lots, and fast-food restaurants.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines food deserts as rural or low-income inner city areas lacking access to affordable or good quality fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods. While Marina’s story explores the lack of access to fresh, healthy food in low-income Latino neighborhoods in Los Angeles, it could be the story of many impoverished areas around the country, both rural and urban, where residents have lower levels of education, incomes, and higher rates of unemployment. These are areas that lack supermarkets, but abound in fast-food restaurants and liquor stores. To make matters worse, such neighborhoods also have fewer parks and green spaces, while the ones that do exist are often underused because of a fear of violence, thus making it more challenging for children and families to exercise. Not to be overlooked is the reality that for parents who work multiple jobs to pay the bills, taking their children to the playground is probably not a top priority. As a result, these children have fewer opportunities to play outside.

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