Ensuring Our Communities Are Fed

As an incoming student to UC Berkeley, one thing that instantly excited me was the food scene and an array of fast food options. It was exciting to arrive on campus and see all these restaurants within a minute or two of campus with Chipotle, Taco Bell, IBs, Blondies, you name it! There’s never been a shortage of fast food or”sweet treats” which at first glance  feels like a dream, especially if you’re a college student that hates cooking. But the reality is way more complicated than that. Despite all of these convenient delicious options, Berkeley is still a food desert. Fresh foods and nutritious options are scarce on and around campus. With many students juggling classes, jobs and so many responsibilities, having to take a 20 minute bus ride to reach a grocery store with healthy options is a serious barrier. This is not only inconvenient but it’s inequitable. 

Berkeley has many low income students and limiting access to affordable healthy food reinforces economic disparities that are part of a larger system. 43% of Undergraduates and 35% of graduate students at UC Berkeley experience food insecurity – nearly half of the population. Luckily there are community efforts to combat this like the student run Berkeley Food Collective , and the Basic Needs Center and other initiatives to tackle this head on. These projects are vital for our campus, but they don’t necessarily fill the gaps created by the city of Berkeley that priority is profit over people. For example Walgreens, which is our only small convenience store, is shutting down to make way for another fast food chain: Raising Cane’s. While many students are excited for this, it highlights the deep inequalities rooted in capitalism that perpetuate food insecurity. It focuses on commercial gain instead of actual equitable access for necessities for students. So as a student, I remember to keep in mind that although it’s exciting to be able to grab a sweet treat at Crumbl after class or go to Taco Bell super quickly,these things are rooted in a vile opportunistic capitalistic system that prioritizes profit over people. Berkeley students deserve better than a Walgreens to do our grocery shopping. Food insecurity and Prop 13, work hand in hand when you think of the context of education as a whole. The more we fund our schools, the more availability for programs that provide students with free lunch and free food minimizing the effects of food insecurity and feeding our communities. With funding for Prop 13, we could have improved access to public service services like transit which will  mitigate factors of food insecurity and access to healthy food first low income communities. Let’s prioritize people for once and ensure that Prop 13 is reformed and our communities and students can be invested in!