According to the Obama Foodorama blog, Michelle Obama announced at a press conference yesterday that Walgreens, Walmart, and SuperValue, as well as several regional grocers, have agreed to open 1,500 stores in regions designated "food deserts."
The term refers to urban areas where a third of the residents have no source for fresh produce within one mile, or rural areas where people have to drive 10 miles or more to get to a grocery store. It's unclear whether the federal government will be giving financial assistance to these giant corporations, but it sounds like Ms. Obama's Healthy Food Financing Initiative (HFFI), as well as another Department of Health and Human Services program, may commit several tens of millions of dollars to the new initiative.
Is the First Lady making a deal with the devil? Many of us in the Bay Area think of Walmart as the scourge of the independent grocer -- for good reason -- and Walgreens as a convenient place to pick up a lot of supplies but nowhere to brag about shopping. But SFoodie thinks this is a fantastic development.
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We think of Walmart the same way we do of Starbucks: When we have a choice, we stop at locally owned cafes, but the chain has made it possible to get a decent cup of coffee in rural and suburban cities across the nation. (We used to go home for family visits toting coffee beans.) Walgreens in particular is converting a thousand of its stores to "food oasis" stores selling fresh produce and some prepackaged, refrigerated meals. Sure, it'd be great to see independently run stores open in all those places, but it's more important to find cabbage, oranges, and strawberries.
If you think San Francisco is a food rainforest, you might want to take a look at the USDA's map of food deserts. The south end of Bayview and Visitacion Valley are highlighted on the map -- SFoodie was driving around the neighborhood last week, and didn't spot a single produce market or Safeway. The Fresh & Easy branch slated to open at Third and Carroll streets next month can't open soon enough.
