There’s lots of talk in the U.S. about the digital divide, the gap between the computer haves and have-nots. But I wonder if there isn’t a more serious divide–the gap between people with and without access to healthy food.
Because I live close to places with healthy food, I tend to take it for granted when I haven’t traveled for a while and tried to buy food elsewhere. I can easily go to Whole Foods, the supermarket chain with lots of organic produce and food sans corn syrup and chemical sweeteners. I can also easily travel to a place like Kripalu, in Lenox, MA, and stay at a retreat that serves beautifully prepared mostly vegetarian meals.
But then you travel outside the Bostons of the world, and you find a much different situation. I’m spending a few days in Albany, NY, on business, and finding wholesome food is no easy task. I roamed a Price Chopper in Albany, not far from SUNY (State University of New York), and it was nearly impossible to find soy milk or cereals without sugar. I’m not even talking about the long aisles stocked entirely with sodas and snacks. So I just wrote a complaint/suggestion at www.pricechopper.com.
But even at SUNY, the situation isn’t much better. On its Albany campus, the student center has a food court highlighted by a Burger King. There is a pasta place to go with an Au Bon Pain, and Zepps, which are high-end sandwich places, but they are just that, sandwich places. Once again, finding food without sugar, pasta, and bread is practically impossible.
It’s tough to ask people to change their eating habits if they can’t find the ingredients to make the transition.
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