when foodie havens fail to feed localsNowhere is it clearer that the US policies have consistently failed US citizens than in the urban centers where generations of racially biased redlining policies have had lasting implications. The recent article by author and Birmingham, AL native, Randi Pink, "Birmingham's Hot Restaurant Scene Won't Fix its Food Deserts," sheds light on the many contradictions surrounding urban foodscapes. By using her hometown as the backdrop, Pink describes a blossoming foodie scene, particularly after the city's Highlands Bar and Grill took home a James Beard Award in May 2018. Celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern and the Food Network are clamoring to claim Birmingham is on the rise as a foodie destination. This means that the middle- to upper-class suburbanites coming into the city to dine and feel a part of the rising foodie trends in Birmingham are essentially taking advantage of the very people who make these restaurants work. Meanwhile, the inner-city's inhabitants - who are mostly Latino and Black - are living in food deserts without access to proper, fully stocked grocery stores. They are instead left to purchase their food from corner stores that sell mostly addictive junk food Michael Moss describes in his article, "The Extraordinary Science of Addictive Junk Food." Tracie McMillan defines a food desert as "a community with insufficient grocery stores for its population." Following this definition, it becomes extremely problematic that a city is rising in the national foodie spotlight yet unable to provide its urban inhabitants with nutritious food. Wei-Ting Chen's article, "From Junk Food to Treats," claims that food insecurity in the US is due to policy failure within our food system. She refers to the structural limitations of the US, but Randi Pink takes this idea a step further as she describes the lasting effects of redlining on Birmingham. When looking at the original 1936 map of redlined districts in Birmingham, it is eerily similar to maps displaying the food deserts within the city. Redlining as a concept is far too complex to describe here at this moment. However, it is important to understand that grocery stores have historically chosen to set up shop in neighborhoods considered safe or “low-risk,” which, due to redlining, have mostly been neighborhoods with enclaves of middle- to upper-class Whites. The cost of insurance in “high-risk” neighborhoods has been higher, which has not only kept certain businesses out of predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods, but also created economic barriers for Black and Latino business owners as well. As Chen explains, healthy eating is not simply a matter of personal choice or education. Healthy eating is dependent on class, economics, access, and the systemic issues inherent in US food policies. Pink has brought to light that it is more than just US food policies at play in the narrative of healthy eating in America. Redlining was an openly racist system that created divisions within American cities that limited socioeconomic mobility. Now food deserts and poverty seem to go hand-in-hand, which is more evident of the systemic problems within the US than it is of personal dietary preferences. On September 26, 2018, "Birmingham's Hot Restaurant Scene Won't Fix its Food Deserts" was simultaneously published on Eater - a popular source for food industry news - and on Civil Eats - a 2014 James Beard Award winning online publication with a mission to bring critical thought to the food industry.
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