This week’s reading was very interesting and taught me a lot about how there is a strong correlation between socioeconomics and food. It was crazy to see how there are so many issues and systematic racism tied to food and lower-income communities. The book talks about Deanwood and its inability to have access to a traditional diet or cuisine like most Americans have the opportunity to. Ashante Reese has a theory that communities, like Deanwood, will never have the opportunity to have a standard diet and they are stuck in poverty, as a constant cycle with no way to break out. It was frustrating to read this. The author had a common theme of “self-reliance”, that she mixed in throughout the book. She kept talking about how the community leans on each other in order to help improve their foodway.
She also called the community, a food desert. This means that they don’t have access to food just like deserts don’t have access to much water. The lack of food affects the people living in Deanwood in a HUGE way because it can lead to health problems.
In conclusion, I really enjoyed this book. It was frustrating to see that people and communities like Deanwood even exist. I am happy that Reese is bringing light to this issue in hopes to break the cycle and fix the food deserts around the US.
