PRX default Piece image

Syracuse's Food Desert

From: Kate Szrom
Length: 04:36

The city of Syracuse, NY, has a food desert -- a lack of grocery stores that sell fresh produce -- which leaves residents to corner stores and packaged foods. Read the full description.

Piece Audio

Playing: Syracuse's Food Desert
From: Kate Szrom

Default-piece-image-1 The city of Syracuse, NY, has a food desert -- a lack of grocery stores that sell fresh produce -- which leaves residents to corner stores and packaged foods.

More from Kate Szrom

Caption: Poplar grows in a test field outside Syracuse, NY., Credit: Kate Szrom

Willow as an energy crop (04:16)
From: Kate Szrom

A SUNY-ESF project is studying the use of willow crops as a source for heating homes and making ethanol. Now they are at a crucial moment in their research.

Morning music (01:30)
From: Kate Szrom

This a soundscape that combines elements of a symphony with the sounds of starting the day.

Caption: Flossie Turner Lewis, Credit: Kate Szrom

Lil' Hot Mama Flossie Turner Lewis (07:28)
From: Kate Szrom

Vaudeville entertainer Flossie Turner Lewis reflects on her life, including working with the family act in the minstrel show circuit and finally getting an education.

Piece Description

Broadcast History

Originally aired on WAER in Syracuse.

Transcript

TRACK: Grocery shopping is usually a chore. For some more than others.

ACT1 (Mable): I would have to take a bus from the front of the building.. and then go downtown, transfer from that bus, to get on another bus...When you add it all up, it takes almost 2-and-a-half hours to get your food...So so far my daughter helps me. Sometimes she doesn't feel like she wants to give me a ride so I gotta pay some of the people that live in the building to give me a ride...so it's kinda hard.

TRACK: There aren't any grocery stores in Mable Wilson's neighborhood on the South side of Syracuse. There are corner stores –- which sell unhealthy food at higher prices.

ACT2 (Perreault): And they don't want lettuce or apples or something that will go bad on them.

TRACK: That's geographer and Syracuse University professor Tom Perreault(PUR-roe). He calls the South side a «classic food desert.»

ACT3 (Pe...
Read the full transcript