Off the Back of a Truck, and Healthy
Nathaniel
Brooks for The New York Times
The Veggie Mobile was at a school in Troy, N.Y., Thursday, one of
its regular stops in an effort to get produce to areas without
supermarkets.
By DENNIS
GAFFNEY
NEW YORK TIMES
Published: May 25, 2007
TROY, N.Y.
For the
past month, Eric J. Krans has been driving a truck through the heart
of this old industrial city, delivering much of what has vanished
from the store shelves here over the past half-century — fresh
produce, from lettuce, carrots and collard greens to mangoes,
plantains and pineapple.
“There’s
the peaches everyone was wanting,” said Carolyn Moses, 64, the first
person to climb into the box truck one recent afternoon, as she
poked around the wooden crates. Then she pulled open a refrigerated
case and shouted to no one in particular, “Tomatoes are 79 cents a
pound, everyone.”
It is a
new service, begun by a nonprofit organization, to promote healthier
eating.
What would
seem to be a pretty mundane find by most shoppers’ standards is
anything but in downtown Troy and other poor urban neighborhoods in
New York State where there are no supermarkets.
In Troy,
about 10 miles north of Albany, for example, supermarkets are
clustered on the outskirts, where the city begins to transform into
suburbs.
According
to an informal survey in 2005 by the Capital District Community
Gardens, a nonprofit agency, not one of the seven urban
neighborhoods in Troy and in nearby Schenectady and Albany that the
Veggie Mobile serves had a supermarket within four miles.
That is
why the organization established the Veggie Mobile, which cruises
the streets on a rotating schedule three days a week, selling
freshly grown local produce. On one additional day, it offers
samples and gives away fresh fruit and vegetables, hoping to get
people to expand their food choices.
“We’re
trying to give people in inner-city neighborhoods access to
affordable fresh produce,” said Amy Klein, executive director of the
community gardens.
Ms. Klein
said she got the idea for the Veggie Mobile several years ago, after
reading about a truck known as the People’s Grocery that served
healthy foods in poor neighborhoods in West Oakland, Calif.
“I
thought, ‘We can do that with vegetables,’ ” she said, “because
we’re all about vegetables here.”
She said
the Veggie Mobile was a natural extension of the work done by her
organization, which has attracted 3,000 families to grow fruits and
vegetables in 46 community gardens in the Albany area.
Impressed
by the notion, the State Department of Health provided a $500,000
grant over five years.
As the
Veggie Mobile drives through downtown Troy to its first stop, it
passes a natural-foods store, a misnomer, in Mr. Krans’s opinion.
“They sell dried fruits, nuts and supplements,” he says. “But fresh
produce they do not have.” And no supermarket.
Stephen
Matthews, an associate professor of sociology at
Pennsylvania State University who studies food landscapes, says
sociologists call such places, whether urban or rural, “food
deserts,” where, if there are any food stores, they are corner
groceries, where produce is more expensive or nonexistent.
Instead,
Dr. Matthews said, residents of poor urban areas are surrounded by
fast food restaurants, whose fare he said contributes to obesity and
a host of other health problems.
Ms. Klein
of the community gardens said: “As a nation, we’re concerned with
obesity, heart disease, diabetes. These health issues are tied to
healthy eating. And we know our consumption of fruits and vegetables
isn’t what it needs to be.”
As the
Veggie Mobile pulled up to one of its scheduled stops,
John F. Kennedy Towers, a housing development for the elderly,
“That’s Life” by
Frank Sinatra blared from speakers mounted on the front.
Like a
grandson, Mr. Krans escorted people up the ramp into the truck and
back down again, offering to carry their bags.
In the
first week, Ms. Klein said, there were about 50 customers a week,
but in just a month the total number has grown to 400 a week, far
beyond expectations.
“It’s
getting crazier every time we do this,” Mr. Krans said. “Friends
tell friends, neighbors tell neighbors.”
Since the
initial run, the selection of produce has been expanded in response
to customers’ requests.
Last week,
basil, pineapple, oranges, strawberries, mangoes and limes
complemented the usual array of offerings.
The plan
is to sell produce from local farmers when it becomes available next
month.
“We want
to contribute to the local farm economy,” Ms. Klein said.
Many
Kennedy Towers residents remember when bread and milk trucks, as
well as vegetable merchants, cruised the streets, 50 and 60 years
ago. “This is the best thing that has happened at Kennedy Towers,”
said Lea Allen, 63. “Everything is nice and fresh and reasonable.”
The
nearest grocery, just across the street, has a sign above the door:
“Groceries, Hot Food, Subs, Beer, Candy and Cigarettes.” But it
sells no fresh produce.
After an
hour at Kennedy Towers, Mr. Krans headed for the second stop of the
afternoon, the parking lot of Carroll Hill Elementary School in
South Troy, where nearly two-thirds of the students qualify for free
or reduced-cost lunches.
“A lot of
parents here don’t have automobiles to get to a large grocery store
or a farmer’s market,” said Casey Parker, the school’s principal.
The first
week the Veggie Mobile parked at Carroll Hill, a neighborhood
resident, Lori Filuta, predicted that children would be drawn to it
as if it were stocked with ice cream.
“The
parents work,” Ms. Filuta said. “But you’ll see. The kids will be
here buying fruit.”
Soon, two
regulars, Nick Mariano and Matthew Murray, both 12, showed up with
enough change for a half-dozen oranges, which they wasted no time
peeling and eating.
Aimie
Thorsey, the director of Hope 7, an after-school program at Carroll
Hill, said she came each week with a dozen or so children who
brought spare change from home.
“Each of
them usually leaves with an apple or a banana,” Ms. Thorsey said.
One week, “kiwi was a big hit.”
Nine-year-old Billy recently tried his first mango. “I liked it
better than a banana,” he said.
Ms. Klein
is pleased. “Any way we can break down barriers to healthier foods,”
she said, “aids people on their way to healthier lifestyles.”
|
