NY Food: How Hard Is It To Get Fruits And Vegetables In The City?

Who knew finding an apple would be so difficult in the Big Apple?

Less than a quarter of New York City food retailers -- everything from your local bodega to the neighborhood Key Food -- are likely to sell fresh fruits and vegetables, according to the city's health department. That number becomes even more rotten since the amount of supermarkets in the five boroughs has been slashed by a third in the past six years.

Now The Huffington Post and Gotham Gazette want to know how the city's supermarket drought affects you.

How hard is it for you to get fruits and vegetables? On average how many blocks do you have to walk to get fresh produce? Do you think it's easier in your neighborhood than other areas? More difficult? And has access to food stores changed since the recession?

Send your responses to [e-mail] and sign up here to join The Huffington Post's New York citizen reporting unit.

We will analyze your responses and report back later this week.

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Comments

[oakley9]

It's worse in some small towns now that local farmers no longer grow a variety of vegetables and summer fruits. most are now forced to buy frankenfoods.

[ThePhantom]

Many NYC neighborhoods don't have quality supermarkets, but nearly every area has fruit and vegetable markets. I have three within a four block radius of me in Bay Ridge Brooklyn

[newyorkid]

Instead of promoting vegetables, we should campaign against injected hormones in meat that just puts massive amounts of water in meat.

[zombie fairy]

I'm going to point it out because no one else has: poorer neighborhoods are the hardest hit by this. I live in Philly's urban core and have never had a problem getting fresh, locally grown produce. But, if you go just a few blocks north to the Strawberry Mansion neighborhood, it's a totally different story: there's one store and the produce is disgusting. Likely there are similar stories all over North Philly and other poverty stricken areas of town. This isn't a food shortage problem - this is a socioeconomic problem.

[gsteinum]

i live in a relatively poorer neighborhood of a midwestern city and just across the steet (less than two minutes walking time) there are two seperate stores that sell beer and wine. if a proposal gets approval (from the city counsel) for walgreens to sell beer and wine, that would make three. only two of those stores now sell something that resembles fresh produce, on a very limited and sporadic basis. i miss living in san diego, where i could walk one block and buy fresh produce. i don't miss the rent i had to pay there. at the moment, i can take a city bus and within thirty minutes i can buy all the produce i could possibly want. i prefer affordable rent over instant access to fresh produce.

[JamieNYC]

In NYC, buying fruits and vegetables has never been easier!

We live in Manhattan, on the Upper East Side/Yorkville, and there's a fruit stand on every corner!
Best of all, you can negotiate the prices - when I don't like the deal I just walk to the next guy.
I shop a lot downtown on 14th street as well, and my choices are just as good.
I frequent the Upper West Side as well, heading to the Fairway super market, [famous for its well-priced fresh food] and again I always encounter plenty of more options along the way.

I found your article a little out of touch with life in Manhattan as I know it. When recently discussing life in the city with some friends, a key complaint that came up was that there are too many fruit stands in Manhattan!

My Dad has it just as easy in Queens. From Fresh Meadows to Bayside, the choices to shop healthy are vast and low priced.

How on earth could you think its hard to buy healthy fresh food in New York???

In addition to fruits and vegetables, My family also buys a lot of fresh fish (salmon, tilapia, lemon sole) and its just as easy.

...and I almost forgot to mention the Union Square Farmer's Market...

[jsarets]

Just about anything you could possibly want can be found in NYC, often 24 hours per day. Some people have to drive 30 miles to the nearest market. New Yorkers have absolutely no grounds to complain about lack of accessible produce vendors. They can get more things delivered to their homes than many people can pick up on a single tank of gas. If you can't find it in NYC, it's your own fault.

[MIKEinNYC]

Are you kidding?

There's produce available in NYC all of the place from supermarkets, to bodegas, to the Korean food stores to the street vendors.

And it's almost always fresh.

And the prices tend to be reasonable.

What's the problem?

[jetphixer]

As a person who grew up in Brooklyn i m 70 now an in my family all now lives in NE IA. Fresh and real organic foods We grow a lot of our own. I remember from my childhood wen i walked to grade school (St Theresa) there were 2 fresh food Mkt.s cross from each on the corner of Franklyn ave & i think it was Prospect PL. Again from late grade school to age 20 i lived in Cornwall NY where we grew a lot of our own stuff an bought local. About it for my 2 cents on this subject. Thanks 4 reading Bill

[baronmerlot]

There is a farmer's market at Traver's Park in JH every Sunday.

[JScott]

And in LA I think downtown is still struggling to get a Ralph's supermarket dunno if it finally opened or not.

[LSP]

Fresh fruits and veggies are readily available where I live. The only problem is we get apples from last year's harvest that are waxed to make them appear fresh.

The fresh veggies we get have been sitting in a cold warehouse for weeks. Veggies like broccoli and lettuce are then piled into slimy supermarket cooler compartments (that rarely if ever get cleaned) where they get continually soaked with water spraying out of dirty nozzles in order to keep them from wilting due to the fact that they were not fresh to begin with.

I usually go to Whole Foods. But they are also saturating their veggies with water now.

[fcsakes]

Fresh? I want organic. Pesticides give me a stomach ache, I don't care how "fresh" it is.

I'll go far and pay more for organic produce.

[thebarbarian]

I have no problem because I live a few blocks away from Westside Market where the produce is plentiful and fresh. The rest of the food there is tops, especially the rotisserie chicken which is the best in New York. Certain produce is on sale, like blueberries at 3 pints for 5 dollars.

In the other direction, I have Whole Foods. So I guess the only thing I can complain about is the price on most items. The stores were claiming that gas prices drove up the price of produce, but since gas prices have gone down I haven't seen food prices go down. Food prices seem to rise weekly. Even everyday items have really gone up.

[brooklyncitizen]

Not at all.

Weekly Farmers Markets.
Korean grocers.
Whole Foods.
Community Supported Agriculture co-ops.
Park-Slope food co-op.
Market on 10th ave in meat packing district.....

etc.....

[allonfla]

I live in Flatbush and on Church Ave there is an endless supply of stores with lots of fruit and veggies out front. Then there are fish shops and small time supermarkets. There is also a Waldbaum's, Pathmark and Stop N Shop in the area.

There isn't a lack of veggies and fruits where I live but you won't find a lot of organic produce - that's why I take the long trek to Whole Foods and Trader Joe's.

To be blunt, NYC is easily traveled from borough to borough. There are buses, cabs, trains, and dollar vans. And there are many people who have cars. Only the homeless should be saying that they do not have access to fruits and veggies. If you are poor, there are food stamps and they are accepted almost everywhere. If there isn't a decent supermarket in your area - get on the subway, the bus or walk it.