Healthy food getting hard to find, afford

Walking through the grocery store today is a different experience now than it was in the past. Kids today walk past fresh grapes and head for the grape soda instead. I remember going to Jewel with my mother and walking through the endless aisles of aromatic fruits. She would let me rip off two plastic bags and fill them with any fruit I wanted.

Slowly I witnessed the magical fruit fields shrink before my very eyes and get replaced with racks of Cheetos and powdered doughnuts. The change in available food is not a result of a shift in consumer taste, but rather a change in prices. Agricultural subsidies now make the cost of Twinkies less than that of a bag of carrots.

Convenience will always be the determining force when it comes to food purchases in any economy. We should stop using taxpayer dollars to subsidize unhealthy foods that have resulted in the rate of childhood obesity quadrupling over the last 40 years. It is our duty as a community to demand access to healthier food options. Our dining tables have sorely missed fruits and vegetables, and it is up to us reunite them.

Sudheer Poluru

Chicago