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At the same time, food policy councils are helping to spread this excitement on a citywide level. By working with policy organi\ zations such as the Nutrition Committee of the Board of Education, and by encouraging hands-on programs like Wilbur Cross High School’s sustainable garden, the New Haven Food Policy Council is laying the foundation for broader produce consumption. “[It] provides an opportunity for change and dialogue,” said Sherill Baldwin, a food systems expert and a founding member of New Haven’s Food Policy Council. “I look at [the council] as systemic change.”
Systemic change, however, requires more than parading parsnips: it necessitates physically providing healthy food to those who truly need it. Inadequate access to healthy foodstuffs, a condition called “Food insecurity,” is a special concern for low-income, urban populations, a group which, not coincidentally, suffers from disproportionately high rates of obesity. The Life Science Research Office officially defines food insecurity as “existing whenever the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or the ability to acquire acceptable food in socially acceptable ways is limited or uncertain.” Almost all major American cities have areas that satisfy this definition.
The relationship between food insecurity and obesity does seem like a conundrum. How can not having enough food lead to overconsumption? A June 2005 article in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association offers some insight: “There is a feast or famine effect. When the food supply is getting low, mothers forgo eating. This leads to overeating when food is available when the welfare check or food stamps arrive.” Regardless of the rationale, numerous studies around the world have confirmed the link between food insecurity and obesity. Unsurprisingly, studies have located the main difference between food-secure and food-insecure individuals in one’s access to fruits and vegetables.
For those that have the money and live in the right places, quality fruits and vegetables are widely available at pricey organic food stores. The signal virtue of farmers’ markets, however, is that they provide food to urban consumers at affordable prices. In New Haven, for instance, people receiving federal assistance can use their women, infant, and children (WIC) coupons and food stamps to purchase produce at the market rate. Accepting food stamps has allowed CitySeed to expand its operations into Fairhaven and West Rock, spreading the positive influence of farmers’ markets all over the city, regardless of the socioeconomic composition of the region.
Farmers’ markets are not alone in tackling food and lifestyle problems in urban communities; food policy councils work to improve transportation to markets with fresh produce, to provide guidance for the placement of new supermarkets, and to promote nutrition-related public health campaigns. Recent research conducted by Toronto’s Public Health Department indicates that a policy approach is extremely important when resolving issues of food insecurity.
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