{"id":30,"date":"2015-02-09T21:52:12","date_gmt":"2015-02-09T21:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stories.kera.org\/inside-neighborhood\/?p=30"},"modified":"2016-04-22T13:49:13","modified_gmt":"2016-04-22T13:49:13","slug":"around-here-fresh-food-is-hard-to-find","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.kera.org\/inside-neighborhood\/around-here-fresh-food-is-hard-to-find\/","title":{"rendered":"Around Here, Fresh Food Is Hard To Find"},"content":{"rendered":"

For some, the most challenging chore of the week is buying groceries. Jubilee Park, sandwiched between Interstate 30 and Fair Park in Dallas, isn\u2019t technically a food desert. That\u2019s defined as a community that doesn\u2019t have a grocery store within a one-mile radius. There is a supermarket, but you have to cross under a highway to get there. Many Jubilee Park residents drive for miles to get their groceries. And folks without a car pay the price at the corner store.<\/em><\/p>\n

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In Jubilee Park, many residents cross busy streets to get to their main source of food: the corner store. The nearest groceries are separated by Interstate 30 and Fair Park. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

If you want to stock up on food here, you have three options. Get in the car and drive, learn the bus routes or hoof it under Interstate 30 to the closest store.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lifelong resident Sherman Turner prefers another option — his trusty bicycle.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Sherman Turner travels by bike, with his stuffed chihuahua at his side. Photo\/Courtney Collins<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe have to go up here on Columbia to Malone\u2019s or go to South Dallas to Martin Luther King, to Minyard\u2019s. That\u2019s for cars,\u201d he said. \u201cI have to ride this bike up there!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

Turner bikes everywhere. He doesn\u2019t have a car, so he just hangs his grocery bags on the handlebars,\u00a0 next to the stuffed chihuahua acting as a hood ornament.<\/p>\n

“That’s my little guard dog,” he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see a lot of people walking back and forth bringing their bags back,\u201d he said. \u201cBut this neighborhood, we deserve a little old store, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

Around the corner on Congo Street, Yolanda Weeks thinks so, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou gotta go travel at least 10 miles to go to a decent grocery store,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Marcus Williams grills food outside his home in Jubilee Park in Dallas. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n

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MAKING A MEAL FROM THE CORNER STORE<\/h3>\n

Weeks shops at a Kroger 15 minutes away. She counts herself lucky, because she can drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you got no car, then you pretty much have got to buy from the little corner stores, knick-knacks,\u201d Weeks said. \u201cYou\u2019re not really getting a full, complete meal from the little corner stores as if you go to the grocery store and can actually prepare it yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Experts agree. When there is limited access to fresh, healthy food, people don\u2019t eat it. Instead, they make do with what\u2019s available. Stacy Cherones is a dean at Paul Quinn College and is also president of the nonprofit Get Healthy Dallas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf there are no grocery stores around, you learn how to get food other ways,\u201d she said. \u201cYou learn how to feed your family from the corner store.\u201d<\/p>\n

CORNER STORES VS. GROCERY STORES<\/h3>\n

Here’s a look at some of the corner stores near Jubilee Park in Dallas, compared to the nearest grocery stores.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Graphic by Ryan Tainter\/KERA<\/p><\/div>\n

You gotta go travel at least 10 miles to go to a decent grocery store. It’s ridiculous.
Yolanda Weeks, Jubilee Park resident<\/div>
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LOOKING FOR FRESH FOOD? ‘IT’S TOUGH’<\/h3>\n

In Jubilee Park, there are half a dozen corner stores within an easy walk. The closest grocery store is three quarters of a mile away, across the highway. It\u2019s called Malone\u2019s Cost Plus, and it caters to Latino customers.<\/p>\n

The store keeps prices relatively low on the shelf, but adds a markup at the register — 20 percent if you spend $15 or less. Fifteen percent if your bill\u2019s under $50. Ten percent if you spend $150 or more. The idea is to encourage folks to buy a lot of groceries at once, said Jesse Salazar, a general manager with Malone’s.<\/p>\n

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Malone’s is near Jubilee Park. But Interstate 30 separates the grocery store from the neighborhood. Photo\/Courtney Collins<\/p><\/div>\n

Another grocery store, Minyard’s, is about a mile away. You don’t have to cross a highway to get there, but you do have to get around Fair Park, the sprawling home of the State Fair of Texas.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those who are looking for fresh, healthy food, it\u2019s tough,\u201d Cherones said. \u201cThey have to get on public transportation, or borrow a car or figure out a way to get to a grocery store. And that\u2019s often really hard when you have children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Or if you\u2019re a senior citizen. Or work multiple jobs to make ends meet.<\/p>\n

Owen Lynch is a professor at Southern Methodist University and works with Cherones at Get Healthy Dallas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you have two jobs or three jobs and then you have young children and their activities and school, when are you supposed to find the hour-and-a-half of your day or week to go up and grab groceries and bring them back?\u201d Lynch said. \u201cAnd then also prepare them and cook them and hope you can cook them efficiently enough where they don\u2019t perish.\u201d<\/p>\n

While access to grocery stores is the root of the problem in Jubilee Park, Lynch and Cherones are also fighting against bad habits.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s been decades since you\u2019ve had a grocery store around, you probably aren\u2019t in the habit of cooking up broccoli for dinner,\u201d Cherones said.<\/p>\n

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\"Yolanda

Yolanda Weeks and Marcus Williams in Jubilee Park. Photo\/Lara Solt<\/p><\/div>\n

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Video Snapshot: Meet a Jubilee Neighbor<\/h3>\n

Kenneth Camp doesn’t have a car, so he rides the bus from Jubilee Park to the store to shop for groceries. His trip can take up to three hours. In this video, hop on the bus with Camp.
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