Farmer’s Markets
Ahhhhh, warm and sunny Sundays at your local farmer’s market. The feeling of being at a farmer’s market is seriously unmatched, especially if you have a dog to take along with you. In LA, there are so many different farmer’s markets to choose from to get some fresh organic produce at a much lower cost than you would get at the market. It is a true win-win.
What I have realized is that although there are many farmer’s markets in LA, they seem to be concentrated in wealthier communities, and lacking in lower-income communities. When you think about how farmer’s markets are able to lower the cost of fresh produce for their customers, it really seems counterproductive to put them in wealthy communities rather than lower-income communities. When we think about food deserts, this concept seems even more counterproductive. Food deserts are urban areas where it is difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food. These food deserts are really common in areas around LA, and are even prevalent in the area surrounding USC’s campus. How bizarre.
What is even more bizarre is that USC has a farmer’s market just for its students, yet there are none in the surrounding area where there is a literal food desert.
We have food deserts in our cities. We know that the distance you live from a supplier of fresh produce is one of the best predictors of your health. And in the inner city, people don’t have grocery stores. So we have to figure out a way of getting supermarkets and farmers markets into the inner cities. — Michael Pollan
I think farmer’s markets are amazing. I give all my gratitude to the farmers who come down to sell their produce in the city. My thing is that we need to do a better job at bringing them into cities where the purpose of farmer’s market can do its best job, and that is to bring more affordable and high-quality food to the city.
Silver Lake has multiple farmer’s markets, but you can also spot an Erewhon market down the street. Erewhon is a market that is all about organic and quite frankly, really expensive food items. Clearly, Silver Lake does not need a community farmer’s market as much as the area around USC does. The areas surrounding USC usually have to opt for some fast-food chain like McDonald's, just because they happen to be on almost every corner and are extremely affordable. I have zero respect for Mcdonald's by the way, but that is a whole other rant in and of itself. I’ll let Mr. Ronald slide this time.
The point is that, as Michael Pollan said, we have to find a way to get farmer’s markets into the city. I would like to add to Michael’s statement and say we have to get farmer’s markets into low-income cities. The city I now live in is one of the few cities within a 15-mile radius that has its own farmer’s market. I applaud the city council for making efforts to bring a farmer’s market into the city, because we have no WholeFoods, TraderJoes, Erewhon, or any other market that regularly sells organic produce. I love to see my community thrive. I would also love to see other low-income communities thrive because they are the ones that deserve the most effort in terms of creating a health-conscious community.
