Common Areas and Food Security

The best method of learning for me, is relating the relevant theory from our current lecture and connecting it to the current issues. Recently I visited The Stop and spoke with someone at the food bank. We had a very enlightening conversation about the reality of running the food bank. Summer is the busiest time for them as volunteers go on vacation but the demand for food is great. Also, getting to a proper grocery store takes about $6 by transit or 15 to 20 minute walk from their location. You can imagine how hard it would be to hall 4 litres of milk home along with everything else, even if it is $2 less then the local corner variety store. What a stark contrast to my neighbourhood, 15 minutes away from The Stop by transit, where there are three fruit and vegetable vendors within 1 block. Most of this produce is 30 to 50% cheaper then at the larger grocery stores. I consider myself fortunate but there is more for me to learn about how those that are food insecure, find the services that can help them. How did such a disparity in food access manifest? I don't live in a food desert but if you travel North on Transit, within 10 minutes, there are no grocery stores within walking distance for those using the foodbank at The Stop. I also learned that once per month a family in need can receive 2 to 3 day supply of food from the food bank and then join the breakfast program run 4 days per week. This is not going to be enough for a single parent family who just found out that their rent is going up, or that they don't have as many hours at work. They may need food for the next 2 weeks. This stark reality means that many parents will go hungry so that their children will eat that day. Fortunately there are community advocates that come in to run information sessions about other financial aid services. Also, Food Share run the Foodlink hotline, which connects individuals in need to food programs within their neighbourhood. What's interesting is that citizens really only hear about theses services through word of mouth versus some other conventional channels of media. Reliable information can come from community centres, community papers and places of worship and non-governmental social saftey nets. These are all known as "the commons." This term was used in the 2001 report by Wayne Roberts at the Toronto Food Policy Council entitled " The Way to a City's Heart is Through its stomach: Putting Food Security on the Urban Planning Menu." In that report the author, argues that falling incomes and rising housing cost are responsible for the increase in hunger. Commons could be land, capital, tools or the culture and know-how (e.g., "common knowledge").

Community gardens become symbols of discovered commons. Low-income people can grow top quality food at minimal cost.

(Roberts, 2001)

Roberts highlights two things that we take for granted:

1) Food is assumed to be a commodity that can be bought - a logic we don't attach to doctors, parks, roads, schools, etc.
2) "The fallacy of misplaced concreteness," (borrowing from Alfred North Whitehead). In other words, kids think food comes from a store when it fact it comes from a farm.

The point being, maybe the assumption of food access is linked to income and not universal access, should be obsolete. This link is a result of public policy. Also, in regards to the second point, our food doesn't need to come from a farm or store. It can come from within our neighbourhoods, parks and backyards. Roberts reminds us that our self-reliance (e.g., traditions and capacities to grow our own food) was lost by the time of the big depressions of the 1980's and 1990's. It was this loss in traditions that reinforced the relationship between poverty and hunger. It is positive to see how there is a system in place for communities to receive support for starting a community garden but there needs to be a greater focus on public health reaching out to improve skills lost in food production and preparation. The same community coalition that established the Dufferin Grove park, is needed to press urban planners to include public spaces as the "foundation and precondition for the self-help skills that flourish outside a strictly cash economy" (Roberts, 2001).

Jutta brought to light the importance these collectivist movements, brought forth by the community, have on the health and well-being on the community. This is a bottom-up approach to enhancing community capacity, a piller to community development and generating solutions to common problems. This participatory approach is key to health promotion and is a far cry from the prescription-based, medical model, approach of population health. Perhaps further research could be conducted, with support of those living with food insecurity. If we study what the effective communication strategies are, promoting these various programs and services throughout the city, then perhaps we could identify needs and reduce poverty and hunger within our communities. This may be difficult to mobilize but a network, capacity and competence already exists in many communities such as Dufferin Grove Park.

References and Links:

Roberts, W. 2001. "The Way to a City's Heart is Through it's Stomach: Putting Food Security on the Urban Planning Menu." Available at <www.toronto.ca/health/tfpc_hs_report.pdf>
accessed March 2010.