335: Rhonda Lamb, part 2: reversing food deserts
The quote you just heard was Rhonda’s description how showing people how to cook the way I showed them could save time and money for people to enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables.
After Rhonda and my first conversation, I recommend watching the video of my going to the Bronx for the group Rhonda assembled at a church for me to demonstrate cooking my famous no-packaging vegetable stew.
This conversation came shortly after that potluck. Rhonda and I share hear how that event went. One woman said you couldn’t cook that way up there, but then everyone else said it was possible. Rhonda knew everyone there, so listen to our episode to hear her read.
Rhonda sounded to me upbeat about her Bronx community finding value in learning this way to cook from scratch. She says the transition takes time, but that once started, the transition would happen.
On a personal level, I feel vindicated from people repeatedly evaluating my suggestions that this style of cooking could help people by my identity—or rather their perception of it—instead of how it could help people and communities.
There’s no question that different neighborhoods have different access to food versus doof. My questions to you
- Do you accept that difference?
- Do you consider it fair?
- What are you doing to change it?
I don’t think we have to accept it. I’m helping change it. I’m helping reverse the trend of doof producers extracting money from communities with less defense to their manipulations. They claim to offer convenience but make people dependent, creating lifestyles to spend less time with family to work at low wages.
I recommend you help this process instead of sustaining what McDonald’s and Starbucks are doing—perpetuating poor health and impoverishing people and communities.
Rhonda and I have become friends, over vegetables. She met my mom, I met her son and community. Food brings people together—in my experience, more when you meet the farmers and prepare fruits and vegetables from scratch.