5 ms·

> Food is a basic human need, paying someone to make a burrito for you and then hand deliver it to your house is not. There is no shortage of food in america.

> Food is a basic human need, paying someone to make a burrito for you and then hand deliver it to your house is not. There is no shortage of food in america. Do some googling about what is a "food desert", plenty of lower income people in the USA live somewhere that the grocery store options and fresh, nutritious ingredient shopping options are VERY poor. Or a costly distance away to drive on a regular basis. I am not saying this excuses ordering $25 burritos on doordash or uber eats but it is an influencing factor.

ChadNauseam 1y ago
The lack of food can be explained either by a shortage of demand or a shortage of supply. Many people assume that the demand is there and the supply is the problem - people are desperate for healthy food but no one wants to sell it to them for some reason (the reason is always left unsaid). Instead, they have no choice but to shop at 7/11. So presumably, as soon as a store selling fresh, nutritious ingredients opens up, it would be swarmed with people buying broccoli and chicken breasts. However there is some evidence that the reason no healthy food is being sold is because people's demand for heathy food is being provided by a supermarket a few miles away, or that they just have little demand for healthy food in the first place. Here is an article with more information: https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2019/december/what-really-happens-when-a-grocery-store-opens-in-a--food-desert.html https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2019/decemb...
- braingravy 1y ago
  It can also be explained by corrupt markets and societal coercion that perpetuate cycles bolstering cooperate profits.
- deleted 1y ago
  [deleted]
- harrall 1y ago
  To support your point, I live in the complete opposite of a food desert but I know a lot of people who don’t know how to cook… like not really. “Cooking” to them going to Trader’s Joes and buying one of those frozen packs. If I gave them a bunch of chicken breasts and broccoli, they would struggle to make it tasty, even if I told them it load it up with fats and sugars. Cooking — as in being able to make any set of common ingredients tasty, quickly, with few dishes to wash, and without looking up recipes each time — is the skill you need before you can “unlock” supermarkets. If I was still 19 and a new supermarket showed up, I would know f— all to do except browse the frozen section.
  - bombcar 1y ago
    This is way more an issue than some realize. A repairman I used to know would always have great deals on amazing kitchen gear. It was always 5-10 years out of date but barely used (Viking oven where the burners had been used a bit, but the oven still had all the plastic bags and manuals in it). Super valuable houses where nobody ever cooked. He said the only thing he’d ever be called to service was the microwave and the fridge. But 10 years in, gotta refresh the house!
    - int_19h 1y ago
      It does sound strange to me. I wouldn't consider myself as someone knowing how to cook, but I mean, there's stuff like eggs, pasta, or sausages that you literally just stick into a pot of water and boil it for N minutes (where N is right there on the packaging even). And you wouldn't do that in a microwave oven.
- rienbdj 1y ago
  Time is extremely scarce for poor people. Cooking healthy and cheap meals means research, planning and batch meal prep. This also requires being a forward-looking state of mind. Personally, I think the government should be investigating ways to raise income levels for the poorest. I don’t know what form this should take - UBI? negative income tax? - but fix that and the rest would follow for many people.
  - YarickR2 1y ago
    And what would increasing the income do for changing the state of mind, or for better time management ?
    - batty_alex 1y ago
      Are you suggesting people are poor because they don't have good time management?
      - s1artibartfast 1y ago
        Many of them, yes. And a plethora of other complex problems. Severe trauma, drug and alcohol addiction, low executive function are all in the mix. This isn't an attempt at blaming, just a statement that there are significant hurdles.
      - bombcar 1y ago
        There are certainly “innocent” poor if you want to use the term - those who are disadvantaged through no fault of their own and are working hard to get out of it. And just as certainly being poor can be a result of bad choices and other things. Denying that either is possible is a recipe for disaster. What we should do is work on the things that will work for those who need help and help them improve their skills or provide them a structured environment where are those skills are not necessary.
  - nradov 1y ago
    I generally support measures like increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit but I'm skeptical that would really solve this particular problem. Poor people in other countries manage to cook healthy and cheap meals from a few staple ingredients. There's no research or planning involved, they just get on with it.
magicalhippo 1y ago
There was a short discussion here[1] recently on this topic, where I added[2] some extra context. Turns out it's probably not so cut and dry. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43524570 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43524570 [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43524836 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43524836
bluedino 1y ago
If you live in a "food desert" you can get a frozen burrito at Walgreens or a corner store for $1
dani__german 1y ago
These food deserts are exclusively caused by completely unjustifiable crimes committed by those lower income people. They aren't stealing bread, rice, beans, vegetables. They are stealing flat screen TVs and destroying their local Walmart. Food deserts only exist where the negative cost of being burglarized has managed to exceed the large income of fulfilling humanity's third most basic need besides air and water.
nradov 1y ago
Even in most "food deserts" it's possible to get cheap and healthy food like beans, rice, potatoes, apples, peanut butter, frozen chicken, cheese, canned vegetables, etc. Most of that stuff can be stored for a long time and doesn't require frequent trips to the grocery store.

ChadNauseam 1y ago

The lack of food can be explained either by a shortage of demand or a shortage of supply. Many people assume that the demand is there and the supply is the problem - people are desperate for healthy food but no one wants to sell it to them for some reason (the reason is always left unsaid). Instead, they have no choice but to shop at 7/11. So presumably, as soon as a store selling fresh, nutritious ingredients opens up, it would be swarmed with people buying broccoli and chicken breasts. However there is some evidence that the reason no healthy food is being sold is because people's demand for heathy food is being provided by a supermarket a few miles away, or that they just have little demand for healthy food in the first place. Here is an article with more information: https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2019/december/what-really-happens-when-a-grocery-store-opens-in-a--food-desert.html https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2019/decemb...

braingravy 1y ago
It can also be explained by corrupt markets and societal coercion that perpetuate cycles bolstering cooperate profits.
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
harrall 1y ago
To support your point, I live in the complete opposite of a food desert but I know a lot of people who don’t know how to cook… like not really. “Cooking” to them going to Trader’s Joes and buying one of those frozen packs. If I gave them a bunch of chicken breasts and broccoli, they would struggle to make it tasty, even if I told them it load it up with fats and sugars. Cooking — as in being able to make any set of common ingredients tasty, quickly, with few dishes to wash, and without looking up recipes each time — is the skill you need before you can “unlock” supermarkets. If I was still 19 and a new supermarket showed up, I would know f— all to do except browse the frozen section.
- bombcar 1y ago
  This is way more an issue than some realize. A repairman I used to know would always have great deals on amazing kitchen gear. It was always 5-10 years out of date but barely used (Viking oven where the burners had been used a bit, but the oven still had all the plastic bags and manuals in it). Super valuable houses where nobody ever cooked. He said the only thing he’d ever be called to service was the microwave and the fridge. But 10 years in, gotta refresh the house!
  - int_19h 1y ago
    It does sound strange to me. I wouldn't consider myself as someone knowing how to cook, but I mean, there's stuff like eggs, pasta, or sausages that you literally just stick into a pot of water and boil it for N minutes (where N is right there on the packaging even). And you wouldn't do that in a microwave oven.
rienbdj 1y ago
Time is extremely scarce for poor people. Cooking healthy and cheap meals means research, planning and batch meal prep. This also requires being a forward-looking state of mind. Personally, I think the government should be investigating ways to raise income levels for the poorest. I don’t know what form this should take - UBI? negative income tax? - but fix that and the rest would follow for many people.
- YarickR2 1y ago
  And what would increasing the income do for changing the state of mind, or for better time management ?
  - batty_alex 1y ago
    Are you suggesting people are poor because they don't have good time management?
    - s1artibartfast 1y ago
      Many of them, yes. And a plethora of other complex problems. Severe trauma, drug and alcohol addiction, low executive function are all in the mix. This isn't an attempt at blaming, just a statement that there are significant hurdles.
    - bombcar 1y ago
      There are certainly “innocent” poor if you want to use the term - those who are disadvantaged through no fault of their own and are working hard to get out of it. And just as certainly being poor can be a result of bad choices and other things. Denying that either is possible is a recipe for disaster. What we should do is work on the things that will work for those who need help and help them improve their skills or provide them a structured environment where are those skills are not necessary.
- nradov 1y ago
  I generally support measures like increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit but I'm skeptical that would really solve this particular problem. Poor people in other countries manage to cook healthy and cheap meals from a few staple ingredients. There's no research or planning involved, they just get on with it.

magicalhippo 1y ago

There was a short discussion here[1] recently on this topic, where I added[2] some extra context. Turns out it's probably not so cut and dry. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43524570 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43524570 [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43524836 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43524836

bluedino 1y ago

If you live in a "food desert" you can get a frozen burrito at Walgreens or a corner store for $1

dani__german 1y ago

These food deserts are exclusively caused by completely unjustifiable crimes committed by those lower income people. They aren't stealing bread, rice, beans, vegetables. They are stealing flat screen TVs and destroying their local Walmart. Food deserts only exist where the negative cost of being burglarized has managed to exceed the large income of fulfilling humanity's third most basic need besides air and water.

nradov 1y ago

Even in most "food deserts" it's possible to get cheap and healthy food like beans, rice, potatoes, apples, peanut butter, frozen chicken, cheese, canned vegetables, etc. Most of that stuff can be stored for a long time and doesn't require frequent trips to the grocery store.