SUPERMARKET SHUFFLE

So I went running one morning in my favorite park. After a great work out I was starved beyond belief. I decided to make my way to the grocery store to pick some fresh items for a Strawberry Smoothie/Shake. I was looking for what I thought were ordinary ingredients that could be found in any supermarket.

Now, my favorite supermarket is Pathmark followed by Waldbaums (heard they bought out Pathmark…whoopee) and trailing in third, Stop & Shop (they claim to have great prices…still waiting, but I love their organic section).

That being said, Pathmark is about 2-3 miles from my abode and Waldbaums and Stop & Shop were equally far. In my effort to save gas and time, I decided to go to another Supermarket by the name of Associated. Now, usually I wouldn’t even pay attention to this place (I am very loyal to my Pathmark) but it was positioned well between the park and my house so I decided “what the hey?” how bad can it be? It appeared pretty clean from the outside, no block huggers in sight so I parked my car and marched in….

THE ABSOLUTE HORROR!

“What’s that smell?” I say “Has something died in here?” Ohhh nevermind, it was just the smell of fish on ice wafting from the back. I calm down and remind myself that I am only in here for three things: frozen strawberries, frozen (fat-free) yogurt, and some low-cal fruit punch/lemonade.

I walk directly towards the freezers to find the strawberries….What’s this? Where is the frozen fruit? I saw everything from popsicles (not so bad) to frozen quarter waters (thanks mom for never letting me imbibe such a concoction of sugar, water, and food coloring no matter how much I begged). I searched high and low and was beginning to get quite annoyed as I didn’t want to be late to work on account of a smoothie craving.

Letting out an exasperating sigh…I gave up the search for frozen strawberries remembering that I had a small amount left in my own freezer and moved on to frozen yogurt. They have to have frozen yogurt with low sugar/low-cal.

After searching for 3 minutes (mind you the freezer section is not even a full aisle) I was able to find something that resembled low-cal ice cream. Keep in mind there was a plethora of unhealthy choices of ice-cream. There was: Caramel Ice Cream, Chunky Monkey, Neapolitan, Double Chocolate, Rocky Road, etc. Nothing that resembled a …I dunno...Healthy because I want to live to see my grandkids go to college flavor. Okay that was harsh. I love Cookie Dough Ice Cream as much as the next person but I’ve learned that good ol’ Tanqueray motto “Everything in Moderation”. So I save it for my occasional visit to Friendly’s or Cold Stone.

Okay I feel like I’m losing you here…Let me travel back to the story (got to love my tangential excursions).
Fine. So I settle on the bootleg low-cal ice cream and start up the search for low-cal juice. This can’t be too hard I tell myself. Everyone has low-cal juice. Even 7-Eleven has this.

Folks, my dear, dear readers….THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE STORE THEY DO NOT HAVE LOW CAL JUICE.

Are you FRICKING KIDDING ME???????????

I’m not overreacting I tell myself. You are not throwing a Bougie- fit. Okay maybe you ARE throwing a fit but this one is well deserved. How do you call yourself a supermarket without a selection? There is nothing SUPER about you…you IMPOSTER you! You are merely a mini-mart on steroids. I could have saved more time and money for that matter (the ice cream was like $5) by taking the drive to PATHMARK…simply selecting what I wanted and sauntering over to the SELF CHECK OUT and leaving shortly thereafter.

Then it dawned on me…my gripe wasn’t a personal preference issue…what about the people who need sugarless choices. Did no one have Diabetes or high blood pressure in this neighborhood? (Although I wish that were the truth…I know better) Did this supermarket do a census and conclude that they didn’t need to provide healthier options for the people that ventured into this particular store?

And as I continued to wonder…I became angry. How dare you charge people higher prices and offer a very limited selection of food?

I was no longer in a smoothie mood. I put everything back that I picked up and immediately left the store. The neighborhood that the store is in is truly mixed neighborhood both culturally and economically. However, my most educated guess would lead me to believe that (due to its central location) the store is targeted to the economically disadvantaged population in the village. Those that do not read/study labels or do comparison shopping. Those that do not have the leisure of jumping in their car and driving 10 minutes to a better choice. Those who are not focusing on whether or not a food is organic…

Please do not misinterpret me or my intent. I am not asserting that if you don’t have money you’re not smart, or choosy about what you eat. However, I don’t think that those who are watching every dime will take the bus ($4) or cab ($10) to lug groceries back from a not so close market to save 50-100 calories or to forgo trans-fats. Although the benefits are clear to you and I (quality of life, longer life, better health), to those that are less fortunate quantity is better than quality.

I went to work that day silently fuming. I felt like they were slowly poisoning people “in the hood.” However, technically it was not “the hood” but the most central part of town.

Hey man, your diabetes acting up? Have some more Kool-Aid! (Sorry Chris Rock must have possessed me for a moment)

On the way to my office, I usually take the back streets. I counted at least three “Quickie-Marts.” I scoffed. Surely they sold fresh fruit and vegetables in there…yea right.

I knew that this could not be my discovery all alone. For some time I have known that those who are less fortunate and less educated were often given inferior choices. I searched the internet for studies done on the subject and found the following article from the Department of City Planning site.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcp/html/supermarket/index.shtml

After reading this article I had a feeling of vindication. So you do know about it Mister Man!

My favorite excerpts from the article are as follows:

“Diabetes now affects over 700,000 people in New York City (type two I’d bet), over 1.1 million New Yorkers are obese, and another 2 million are overweight… Food dollars are likely being spent by residents in high need areas at discount convenience stores whose line of food products is limited, of poor quality, and generally more expensive than the same products sold at supermarkets…”

Overall this leads to “greater incidences of diet related diseases including diabetes and obesity, low consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables by area residents, lost business opportunities, and a diminished quality of life in neighborhoods.”

Now that my assertion was validated by the Department of City Planning….what am I to do create change? My options can include: writing a letter to the store’s HQ, writing a letter to the mayor, starting a petition, boycotting mini-marts that don’t offer healthy choices.

The article suggested that this is a city problem. But what about us suburbanites? We are affected by this too.

One thing is for sure. I will write a proposal to my sorority alumnae chapter to do a community service event that is based on teaching better eating habits. But in the mean time what else can I do…

Ideas? Thoughts?