"Taking Fresh Fruits and Veggies To 'Food Deserts'"

"The environmental community often speaks of 'food security,' but a couple of recent news items drive home the point that this isn’t just a problem in developing countries:

Here in the US, where suburbanites generally have a choice of grocery stores vying for their produce dollars, some inner-city areas have access to few if any full-service supermarkets. And that makes it hard for residents to eat fresh foods such as apples and lettuce instead of junk food from the closest convenience store.

Detroit, for instance, has been called a 'food desert' for its lack of  chain stores that carry fresh fruits and vegetables. (An oft-quoted statistic for one neighborhood is 26 liquor stores but only one grocery.) And public transportation options are few for anyone who wants to travel to a neighborhood with more food choices.

One group decided to do something about it this summer.  The nonprofit Central Detroit Christian Community Development Corp., which runs its own produce market, Peaches & Greens. It also stocks a truck with edibles ranging from cabbage to corn grown in community gardens and takes them to inner-city residents."

Judy Lowe reports in the Christian Science Monitor's Bright Green Blog August 17, 2009.