In one of the many hilarious articles I read about her here recently, she mentioned food deserts. I had heard of the term in relation to the USA but wasn't 100% sure what it meant for the UK. I found this extract in an interesting article from the Guardian.
Food deserts are defined by the report as neighbourhoods of between 5,000-15,000 people served by two or fewer big supermarkets. In “normal” areas of this size there are typically between three and seven large food stores, it says. Small shops are less likely to sell fresh or healthy food.
The report cites Lisa Cauchi, a mother of eight in Salford, in the north-west of England, who said the nearest reliable source of affordable fresh fruit and vegetables was a big supermarket half an hour’s walk away. She occasionally gets a taxi but finds that depletes her food budget. “A taxi is a meal,” she said.
A survey carried out as part of the study found that nearly a third of respondents reported that lack of money was the biggest barrier to eating healthily (29%), followed by lack of time to cook (22%). Some 18% said they did not know how to cook healthy meals.
The article also talks about how these areas are often over-served by cheap fast food outlets, leading to all sort of health problems in these neighbourhoods. Several things come to mind:
Councils should be held accountable to which planning permissions they give. Someone with a large social media platform could draw attention to local councils giving planning permission to yet another burger joint instead of thinking how they could provide land to a supermarket, for example.
There are lots of practical ideas that I'm sure are already being implemented by many people, but that could be retweeted, turned into a campaign, etc. I.e. supermarkets deliver for as little as £1 - that is way cheaper than a taxi. What's the barrier? Is it that people don't have debit cards to order online? Is it that they don't know how to order online? Is it the minimum order required per delivery? How can we help people overcome these problems? What can supermarkets do to help? What can local communities do to help?
A local shop to me offers very cheap fruit and veg boxes for local delivery. They are not organic - just basic stuff, but decent quantities that would last a family of four for the best part of a week. Supplemented with some frozen stuff and juice would make it achievable for a family to get their five a day. Again, how can we encourage shops to offer this and people to take them up on the offer?
Lack of cooking skills - lots and lots of information online and published. Why are people not engaging with it? What are they engaging with? What can be done? My kid's local primary offers (in normal times) monthly cooking classes. The focus where I am is different. I live in a very multicultural and quite transient area, so the focus is on meeting people and sharing your culture. However, I am sure this is offered in other areas with a different focus. Someone with a large social media platform could highlight these success stories to inspire others. Perhaps come up with a downloadable plan of how to start a cooking class. I think the great thing about cooking is that really everyone can do it. We can't all be top chefs, but we all can learn to make a simple pasta con pomodoro or baked potato with beans or think about how we can plan things so when life is very busy, we can keep eating healthily and cheaply. Teaching people how to cook pasta or rice properly will really help change meals from stodge to something lovely. And it costs no more to cook pasta well than badly.
I was fortunate enough to learn all of these things from my mother and have just expanded my knowledge because cooking interests me as I got older. One of the greatest breakfasts ever in terms of nutrition is porridge. Soaking oats the night before mean they heat up in the microwave or hob in a minute and are super creamy, even if made with just water. Now how can you improve that meal nutritionally and make it taste of something? Add almonds or cashews (expensive, but not pound for pound when you think of healthy fats and protein) or if you are on a really tight budget sunflower seeds. Dried fruit can cost pennies and adds sweetness. I would add those in the soaking process, so they get all soft and the sweetness mixes into the whole bowl. A banana, a grated apple, some frozen berries. All cheap, all very healthy. Cinnamon or ginger will really elevate it.
Anyway, so many things someone who truly cared could do.
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IF they have split up I’m sure she’d only look at these shameless attention seeking posts and think thank fuck I’m not with her anymore.
