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{"id":868,"date":"2013-09-04T08:19:00","date_gmt":"2013-09-04T08:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2013\/09\/the-food-desert-concept-has-jumped-the-shark.html"},"modified":"2013-09-04T08:19:00","modified_gmt":"2013-09-04T08:19:00","slug":"the-food-desert-concept-has-jumped-the-shark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2013\/09\/the-food-desert-concept-has-jumped-the-shark.html","title":{"rendered":"The “food desert” concept has jumped the shark"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

According to this report from ABC News<\/a>, Whole Foods is building a store in a food desert in the impoverished Chicago neighborbhood of Englewood. Which is fine, as far as it goes \u2014 the city has found a developer to put a vacant plot of land to productive use. <\/p>\n

But is it worthy of celebration? Maybe the TIF subsidies will enable Whole Foods to offer its products at a lower price. Maybe it\u2019ll draw from whatever middle-class areas exist in the surrounding area, and help boost the neighborhood economically. <\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the kicker, though: two blocks away is an Aldi. The Whole Foods, which will open in 2016, will be located at 63rd and Halstead. The Aldi is at 620 W 63rd St, at the corner of Wallace. Look on a map. <\/p>\n

Which means that either this area isn\u2019t actually in a \u201cfood desert\u201d or that the city has defined food desert so broadly as to exclude Aldi, the little grocery store that could<\/a>. (Because the store\u2019s size is smaller than a typical supermarket? Because it doesn\u2019t offer enough varieties of arugula? You tell me.) <\/p>\n