The USDA's new Food Desert locator map was dissected by the Village Voice this week, and it turns out that East Harlem is not considered a food desert after all, at least not according to the USDA. According to the Village Voice, this may have something to do with the how the USDA identifies food deserts and that the USDA may consider efforts like fresh produce carts acceptable access to produce. The Voice notes, "if it's hard to identify food deserts across the country using nothing more than algorithms, then within New York City, where "grocery store" can mean "corner deli" and "mile" can mean "two trains and a bus ride," it's virtually impossible."
Read the full piece in the Village Voice here .
I certainly think East Harlem could use a few more grocery stores. What do you think?
