Closing the Food Gap

Having worked in Hartford for many years, I occasionally get asked if I know Mark Winne.  Mark is the former long-time executive director of the Hartford Food System,the founding chair of the board of directors at Foodshare, and the author of "Closing the Food Gap."  Mark was also the board chair who hired me to be the director at Foodshare in August of 1984.  He probably never thought that we would both still be working on food and hunger issues in 2016!

Mark's book is about the "food gap," the gap between how the well-to-do / well-educated eat and the way the lower income people in this country end up eating.  I tend to characterize this gap by saying "the rich get locally-grown, organic, and the poor get the dollar menu at the corner fast food place."  (Now, I know that's a generalization and not always true, but it's more true than untrue - that's the nature of generalizations!)

Although the book was published in 2008, sadly, not much is different today.  We are still struggling to close the food gap, change the system, and ensure that everyone has good food to eat.  The book is still worth a read!

Part of what drew me to GardenShare is the way we are working to ensure that everyone, no matter their income or circumstances in life, has access to good food.

Gloria