Cheyenne Shambley
Professor Michael
English110
October 29, 2019
Research Proposal
Food is essential for everyday life. There are different types of food in New York. You can find food in different neighborhoods including Little Italy, Chinatown, and etc. Food is a major part of cultures and social practices. It brings people together as a whole. For the last three years since I have been back in the South Bronx I have noticed one thing and that is the lack of supermarkets in the neighborhood I live in. The lack of supermarkets leaves the residents to buy food from bodegas or corner stores. The reason there is a shortage is because the South Bronx is in poverty. Supermarkets tend to be large and can take up half a city block. There is less space in the neighborhoods of the South Bronx to build supermarkets without making the residents there homeless or pushing them out of the borough. The one supermarket in my neighborhood is near the projects and everything in there is overpriced, so people can’t afford to buy healthy foods for their families. South Bronx has the largest supplier of produce right in Hunts Point and it feeds the region with 80% of fresh produce and 40% of its fresh meats, but the residents aren’t receiving it because the neighborhood has so little supermarkets. The Bronx is considered a food desert since it’s lacking the access to healthy and affordable foods. This has been an ongoing problem for more than 10 years and it needs to be fixed.
- https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/24/nyregion/24super.html
- https://www.gothamgazette.com/health/3060-new-yorks-grocery-gap
- https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_9350482?test_ad=readmo_test
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Hello there Cheyenne! First of all I’d like to congratulate you on your topic. I myself was baffled by the lack of quality supermarkets around me up in North Bronx when I moved here six years ago, yet technically I had an option 12 minutes away from my hoyse walking distance, just wasn’t enjoying the quality of the produce and goods. In fact I’m glad this all happened and pushed me to find a different way of shopping and that is why to this day I do all my shopping at Costco. My question to you is why wouldn’t more people go and shop in bulk and save money instead of buying overpriced goods at local bodegas? And before you say people don’t have cars I’d reply I used to get by via train and bus and use a shopping cart. So what do you see as an obstacle for people to go and fill their fridges for half the price with quality produce?