Limited grocery options often leave some residents traveling miles outside their area or using convenience stores inside of gas stations as their grocery stores.
Limited grocery options often leave some residents traveling miles outside their area or using convenience stores inside of gas stations as their grocery stores.
Such areas are known as food deserts — areas where mainstream grocery stores with affordable and healthy options are often absent or miles apart, but fast food restaurants are aplenty.
Slightly more than 600,000 residents, mostly African-Americans, live in food deserts, as of September 2008. While many take food options for granted, residents of food deserts often cannot choose between eating an apple instead of a candy bar, a salad instead of fries, or fresh skinless chicken instead of deep fried, high-fat chicken, according to The Chicago Food Desert Progress Report released last month.
Of that number, nearly 200,000 are children and 100,000 are single mothers. But in the last two years, many grocery chains began to fill the void, reducing the city’s food desert population by nearly 24,000 people, the report stated.
Dominick’s and Cub Foods grocery stores closed a few years ago in the Chatham community, but the area is still classified as a food oasis, according to the report.
In the Chatham, Grand Crossing and Woodlawn communities, it is not uncommon to see several Aldi’s discount grocery stores less than three miles apart.
“I actually have a list of about five good locations I can choose from to grocery shop. There are two Jewel’s and three Aldi’s and a Food 4 Less, all within a six-mile radius that I can go to,” said Chatham resident Dorothy David.
Another Aldi’s is scheduled to break ground on 83rd Street and Stewart Avenue within the next year.
Residents in the Bronzeville and adjacent communities are also seeing progress in more food retailers, helping to take itself off the “roster” of food deserts in the city, said Alderwoman Pat Dowell (3rd).
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