The XX Factor: Slate women blog about politics, etc...

It's Not McDonald's vs. Whole Foods

Blocking fast-food joints is not going to lead to an influx of Whole Foods or other full-service grocery stores, and limiting the number of McDonald's is not going to make people start buying organic. If Whole Foods really wanted to be in South Central, nothing is stopping them right now.

Amaka, you write that, "The higher cost of these healthier foods isn't necessarily prohibitive either." Actually, it is. As someone who juggles child care expenses, a mortgage, and other various monthly payments, I can assure you that milk that costs $6 a gallon (as opposed to $4 a gallon for nonorganic) and tomatoes that cost twice and much and spoil in half the time as their nonorganic counterparts almost never find their way into my shopping cart. And I'm fortunate enough to be in a two-income household. Try telling a single mom working two jobs who comes home to screaming kids, or a family that's trying to feed teenage boys, that they should settle for smaller portions and go to the store three or four times a week instead of once. There's a happy medium between eating at Burger King four days a week and spending $400 a week at an upscale grocery store, and it doesn't seem like Los Angeles is working very hard to find it.

If the city wants to do something to help obesity rates in its poor neighborhoods, it should work to encourage supermarkets—just regular stores with decent meat and produce, doesn't need to be Whole Foods—or better restaurants to come there with tax breaks or other incentives. Work with farmers' markets to find a place where they can set up and carry out their businesses. Negative actions like banning fast-food joints are demeaning to the people they are trying to help, and I would suspect counterproductive.