In my area, a brand-new fast-casual sandwich business opened. Although I had kept up with its development on social media, I wasn’t very thrilled. It’s tough to get pumped about new places when trends spread so fast on sites like Canadian Casinovave.
“Why did they have to call it Bodega?” I complained to my husband. “It’s so clueless.”
I live in Northwest Denver, within a neighborhood once referred to as the Northside. For decades, it remained a source of political power and cultural pride for Mexican Americans in the city. It’s now a hotspot for gentrification. The area has seen a swift shift to wealthier, whiter buyers. Longtime residents are being forced out. Their homes are being torn down and replaced with new, multi-million-dollar houses. Developers renovate these properties and sell them at high prices.
It’s surprising for a white chef and owner to pick a Spanish term for his “chef-driven” sandwich concept. This is often the only grocery store in many Black and brown neighborhoods. That shows real food apartheid in this country.
Food gentrification alters affordable, familiar foods into versions that are often unrecognizable. These new dishes might be seen as elevated, carefully sourced, or healthier. This change implies that the original foods are cheap, unhealthy, or inferior.
This process is like gentrification in cities. It starts with economic decline in areas shaped by redlining and racial covenants. A period of “reinvention” and “revitalization” of the economy follows. Communities become unfamiliar and unaffordable for long-term residents as a result of this transition.
I’m thinking about Nashville hot chicken sandwiches. These sandwiches started in Black communities in Nashville and thrived long before desegregation. Now, they’re a big trend for chefs and investors all over. A lot of these investors lack a lively culinary scene of their own. Nashville has become a go-to spot for bachelorette parties. It’s also a fantasyland for country music lovers. Plus, the city keeps “reinventing” the sandwich.
At the 2018 Hot Chicken Shit event, Tunde Wey made a key point about food and gentrification. He served his Nigerian hot chicken at a Baptist church in North Nashville. This area has strong Black roots. Black diners from the area ate for free. White diners paid $100 for one piece of chicken. They paid $1,000 for four pieces. For a whole chicken, they needed to pay the deed to a property in North Nashville or something of equal value. The goal was to gather land in a community land trust. This effort aimed to provide affordable housing. It also worked to protect residents of North Nashville from displacement.
When the Solution Becomes the Problem
Changes in the food scene can spark or speed up gentrification in a neighborhood. This shows the tricky link between food and gentrification. The CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute provides many examples in its report, “Feeding or Starving Gentrification: The Role of Food Policy.”
Supermarket “greenlining” brings stores with “health and environmental halos” into gentrifying neighborhoods. This shows wealthier shoppers that these stores are ethical and care for their communities. They typically offer local food items, often at higher prices. This appeals to younger, wealthier, and whiter residents who gentrify neighborhoods. Grocery options that are affordable and friendly are often out of reach for low-income residents.
(I am cringing again because you know what is across the street from Bodega? Leevers Locavore is a grocery store. It specializes in fruits and vegetables that are locally grown. They also offer local meat and other food products.
When real estate brokers take over community gardens, it is annoying. These locations are intended to help low-income Black and brown individuals find fresh food. By making the neighborhood look better, they want to draw in wealthy buyers.
Alkon and Cadji say that food businesses run by entrepreneurs often lead to green gentrification. They serve wealthier locals since those customers keep them in business. Neighborhood gentrification can be fought through advocacy and legislative initiatives. This can also address organizational complicity.
The CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute’s report offers ten ways to combat food gentrification.
- Keeping an eye on local food policies and zoning.
- Joining neighborhood planning meetings.
- Supporting organizations that work for affordable housing.
- Lobbying city agencies about economic development.
Will any of these affect food or housing policies in your area? Can you find a way to resist food gentrification instead of becoming complicit? I hope so; I really do.
