Let’s talk about food for a minute here.

An open letter to Amber Greene, Director of Communications for the City of Muncie.

In 2019, 39,650 people lived in what the USDA calls “LI and LA” census tracts. These tracts are more commonly known as “food deserts.” What this means is that these tracts are both low-income (LI) and have low access (LA) to supermarkets and groceries. Access in this case is defined as within one mile of a supermarket or grocery. Dividing that by the population estimate for the 2020 census (65,202), that’s 60.81% of people in Muncie proper who were then living in a food desert.

Now, let’s cross-reference that with another relevant statistic: Indiana ranks sixth-highest in per-capita fast food restaurants, with 46.37 fast food restaurants per every 100,000 people. That’s approximately one fast food restaurant per every 2,156 people. While we’re at it, let’s talk about just how many supermarkets there actually are in Muncie. We have two Walmarts, two Pay-Less stores, Meijer, two Aldis, Ruler Foods, Target’s grocery, and a Fresh Thyme. (Note: while I absolutely adore the Farmstand, our two Mexican grocers, and Asian Mart, I’m not actually sure the USDA counts them amongst “supermarkets;” for the purposes of this post, I’m counting them.) That’s a total of 14 groceries from which you can purchase fresh foods. Dividing that by our total population, that’s one grocery per every 4,657 people, which is over twice as many people per fast food restaurant in Indiana.

With those two statistics alone, it becomes clear why it’s easier to “choose” fast food over a grocery store in town: there’s simply more of it. And we’re not even talking about Muncie’s poverty rate, single parenthood, educational attainment, or other factors that can make putting a homecooked meal on the table hard for Muncie residents and families. But what about those of us who don’t have the challenges many Muncie residents do when it comes to nutritious food access?

This is where I’m gonna have to drop the academic talk a little bit. From the moment I moved to Muncie, I still ran into a major problem with picking fresh over fast food: the food itself!

When I moved to Muncie in 2012, back when we still had Marsh groceries, I lived in an apartment whose parking lot was connected to the former Marsh grocery on 12th and Burlington. I walked over to grab some tomatoes for dinner and was met with an unsightly discovery: the tomato section was rotten, covered in mold and maggots. Thinking it must’ve been a one-off oversight, I let an employee know and went about my business.

Since then, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve had to either return groceries or just cut my losses because I’ve found that my child’s favorite berries or the tomatoes and onions I make pasta sauce with have been covered in mold. I’ve brought home food whose best-by and use-by dates had long since passed. Living on all sides of Muncie and in the County, I’ve had to either make sure that all the fresh food I purchase is free of mold and refrigerated goods have not yet expired.

And I’m about as fortunate as you can get when it comes to not only food but water and personal health choices. Amber Greene and I have a lot in common in that department. I have enough income to buy fresh ingredients and decades of knowledge about nutrition and food safety. I live in the Greater Delaware County area now, not Muncie proper, and I have not been personally affected by the water crisis because I’m on well water. I’m able to drive to the Greenway and exercise safely on our gorgeous trails. And, importantly, I don’t live in a food desert nor do I have any socioeconomic difficulties whatsoever accessing nutritious foods. And I still struggle to find good food here. For thousands of Muncie residents, access to nutritious foods depends on vehicle access, income or SNAP, food education, and then sifting through everything for mold and expiration dates to boot.

Amber Greene is right: this issue does extend beyond water safety. It’s about Muncie residents deserving a higher quality-of-life than they’ve been given. Everyone deserves clean water, access to healthy foods, neighborhoods where they can walk and jog and exercise without fear of getting robbed or coming across a stray needle, and, relevantly, leadership who don’t look down on them for not having access to those things to begin with.

Ms. Greene, life might be better for us out here in the County, but they’re much harder for people who live in the City you work for, and they deserve to be treated with compassion and empathy.

(As of the time of this writing, the petition for Amber Greene to resign or be removed from her position as Director of Communications for the City of Muncie has 720 signatures.)

Sources:

USDA Food Research Atlas: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas

Fast Food Capitals: https://www.mentalfloss.com/geography/maps/map-reveals-the-fast-food-capitals-of-united-states

2020 Census: https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/munciecityindiana/PST045224