Daily Update - Monday Edition

[enveri]

Before I get started with today's daily post, I'd like to apologize for the unsecheduled hiatus. I got hit with a nasty case of Life, and just couldn't handle adding another 'responsibility' (heh.) to my day. I will, as always, endeavor to do better. :) I'd also like to welcome all the new faces! I'm happy to see fresh eyes, and hope you guys enjoy

Comments

[enveri]

It seems to vary by area. I think it's a little more expensive where we live (Our community used to be a rural farming community, but is now considered a suburb of Chicago) due to.. well.. it being Illinois, but I'm specifically thinking of my sister-in-law in Boston. I think the closest 'real' grocery store to her is a Whole Foods.

Okay, I just checked via Google Maps.. she has 3 bodegas right next to her apartment, then Whole Foods, Shaws, and a Trader Joe's within a mile. Not as dire as I had thought. >.> At ANY RATE... heh.. I think the biggest problem is in the cities, where produce and fresh foods are more expensive. :)

[maggock]

Ooo, I want to be on the health/dieting filter! That's something I'm doing now. :>

The supermarket thing is an interesting phenomenon I've read about elsewhere - it seems many poorer neighborhoods don't get supermarkets because the industry I guess deems those areas not profitable? I can't remember where I read that though. x_x

[enveri]

I had read/heard about that too, and... it bothers me, because I seem to remember reading that people under a certain income threshhold suffered more from nutrition deficiencies and obesity problems than people over it... and there is a correlation on the availability of healthy, affordable foods.

Obviously, I don't want to take away people's right to choose what they eat (heaven knows, I love me some funyons!) but I would very much like to see a wider variety of healthy affordable stuff available to everyone!

And re: filter - Sweet! I'll add you. :D

[datalore]

There is definitely a lack of grocery stores in the poorest area of our city. The last one closed claiming that it couldn't make a profit.

I think that we need to also get rid of the myth that it's cheaper to eat fast food. There is no way that an apple and a bit of cheese costs more than a Whopper. You can get a whole bag of apples for the price of a Whopper! People also need education in how to quickly and easily prepare "natural foods". You or I may look at a tomato and see tons of options from toasted tomato sandwiches to a complicated pasta sauce, but some people may not be able to think of all their options.

[enveri]

Or be intimidated by preparing fresh ingredients, definitely.

I know that I hated vegetables and hadn't the foggiest idea how to prepare them until I was in my mid-late 20s. So... Nutrition and cooking education, maybe? If you don't know what kind of possibilities exist, it's hard to turn down the whopper for a bunch of tomatoes and some bell peppers. (omnomnomnom!)

[datalore]

Even for people who have cooked for a long time, it's hard to make things taste nummy. For instance, I just learned from Alton Brown that chili tastes nummier if you brown the onions, garlic, and spices first. I had usually just tossed them in and they would end up boiling, which doesn't give the same taste at all.

On a side note, when helping mom-in-law prepare salsa this weekend, I found a green bell pepper that had a big green worm sealed inside! No entry or exit hole, but a lot of worm poo inside the pepper. It must have been in there since it was a baby, and the pepper grew around it. Kinda neat. :)

[enveri]

O.O

I think I will examine all my peppers very carefully from now on! :D Very cool, but gaaah, that would gross me out so much. ;)