25 million people across the country live in food deserts — or what LA activist Olympia Auset calls food apartheid. People in these areas have easy access to junk food, liquor stores, and fast-food chains. But as Auset puts it if, "you want an organic avocado or tomato you'll be hard pressed to find it.”
Auset is changing that with SuprMarkt, a pop-up grocery store that makes healthy food choices an affordable, realistic option for underrepresented communities.
Auset talks to us about her personal journey — how becoming vegan helped her see just how few healthy food options her community had.
Key moments from the show
- In South LA only 60 grocery stores serve over a million people, while in the highly gentrified west side there are about 50 stores for half that population.
- Food deserts aren’t only food deserts. There are design deserts, entrepreneurship deserts, and so on.
- Auset tells us why she feels food apartheid is a more fitting term than food desert.
- Auset started SuprMarkt with less than $100 and little to no experience. Find out the one key thing she did have that drove her to succeed.
- Living in South Central Los Angeles makes you 2 to 3 times more susceptible to a preventable disease, like heart disease and diabetes. All because of the lack of healthy food options.
- Find out what food Auset calls God’s soda can
Links mentioned in the show
- SuprMarkt: https://suprmarkt.la
- Keep Slauson Fresh campaign: https://suprmarkt.la/ksf
- SuprFest: suprfest.com
- Food Inc. documentary - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286537/
- Forks Over Knives - https://www.forksoverknives.com
- What the Health - https://www.whatthehealthfilm.com
We have more on Olympia on our website. Got input, comments, questions, or advice? Email us at feedback@unwastedpodcast.com.
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