Evaluation of Community Interviews

Nearly everyone we spoke to in our interviews seemed quite interested in choosing healthier options; at least, no one seemed apathetic or hostile to the possibility. This might just be because they sensed the answers we wanted, but I don’t think that’s the entire reason. No matter how ill informed or disempowered people are (and many of the people we spoke to were surprisingly well informed), the desire to get better food is an obvious one. One woman, who was walking with her two young children, talked about walking all the way to the Essex Street market from eastern Alphabet City to get fresh fruits and vegetables. Clearly, the demand exists.
So where is the supply? BHSEC students endlessly bemoan the lack of healthy or even appealing food options, as did many of the community members we interviewed. Shop owners were at best dubious at the prospects of carrying healthier options, and had somewhat fuzzy definitions of what “healthy” meant. The notion of carrying local food was far beyond anything they had ever considered; the clerk at Adinah’s Farm (a bodega-eque grocery store widely considered the healthiest option for its hot food, fresh produce, and wide selection) wasn’t even sure whether the produce came from Hunt’s Point or not.
Students were, by and large, unimpressed with the cafeteria food available. The widely-held stereotypes about cafeteria food in general may have been a part of this, but even so, we should take their opinions seriously. Students were unhappy with both the quality and healthfulness of the food. When asked about the salad bar, they complained that the lettuce &c was tasteless and not fresh.
In fact, one student even explicitly complained that she “doesn’t know where [the lettuce] comes from.” Again, the possibility of using fresh, local food in the cafeteria seemed not really on her radar, but she did demonstrate interest in the freshness and quality of the produce being used in the cafeteria.
When we asked her and other students about the possibility of implementing the Garden to Café program, they seemed a bit daunted by the possibility. They saw it as an impressive ideal, but their reactions didn’t suggest belief that it would be a real option any time soon. They were also dubious about the possibility of working in the garden. That reluctance is sure to be one of our biggest obstacles; motivating the BHSEC community to get involved in shaping the garden. The student body is generally very reluctant to commit time to any extracurricular activities, for the simple reason that time is a scarce resource for us.
Ideally, the garden should supply a significant portion of the produce used in the cafeteria. But it should do more than that. The simple change of a connection to the food we eat should certainly inspire BHSEC students to look more closely at where their food comes from, and a strong Garden to Café system would do that automatically. Getting students involved in the garden is a further step in that intellectual journey, as well as a way to connect our very fractured community. The garden has the potential to be very powerful as a community-shaping and conversation-starting tool within the BHSEC community. At present, there are maybe ten students who are informed about it. Within a few years, there should be six hundred.
And outside of BHSEC? That’s a much larger goal. Using the Garden to Café program as a model for other public schools seems like the most realistic way to expand beyond the boundaries of our school. Getting involved with neighborhood garden associations is another viable long-term option. Improving the quality of food generally available in the neighborhood by ourselves might be too ambitious, except as increasing the awareness and public interest in community gardening.