“We are dedicated to being Savannah’s neighborhood grocery store.”

Apparently that level of dedication was not shared by Food Lion’s parent company, Delhaize America, which announced today it is closing 126 “underperforming stores.”
The store’s closing is a blow on multiple fronts, not least of which is the loss of jobs.

In July 2010 Savannah Morning News columnist Tom Barton wrote a column called “Crossing a ‘food desert,” in which he suggested:

“In terms of re-energizing this struggling corridor south of the I-16 flyover, this project isn’t just big. It’s humongous…There’s nothing like having a clean, well-stocked, competitively priced and convenient place to buy food and other necessities to make any area more desirable and contribute to healthier lifestyles.”

Here’s hoping a new tenant can be found quickly.

And there’s more news out of the market: The season is being extended to Dec. 17 and will reopen earlier in 2012:

“We are proud to officially announce that we will continue to provide fresh produce, high quality meats and delicious prepared food until December 17th. We will then take a short winter break before starting the 2012 season on February 11th, 2 months earlier than we typically do. This represents a 30% increase in your market experience and a great way to indulge in the southern luxury of a year- long growing season.”

More information is available on the market website.

Well Fed Savannah is sponsoring the Savannah Food Day Festival Saturday, Oct. 22 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Mother Matilda Beasley Park on East Broad Street. What is Food Day? Organizers describe it as “an Earth Day for Food.”

“Aimed at promoting healthy, sustainable, affordable, and just food systems in America, Food Day is a national grassroots mobilization backed by some of the most prominent voices for energizing the food movement … people will gather at events big and small and from coast to coast in homes, schools, colleges, churches, city halls, farmers’ markets, supermarkets, and elsewhere to raise awareness about food issues and advocate for change.”

The Savannah event includes live music, vendors, exhibitors and workshops. The festival is free and open to the public. The Savannah Bicycle Campaign will provide valet bike parking throughout the event.

Whatever the term, studies have linked the preponderance of unhealthy food in poorer urban (and rural) neighborhoods as a contributing factor in all sorts of health issues. Still, while Barton laments “the pitiful selection of produce” available at the Choose Market located near the site of the new store, it’s worth noting that some of the healthiest produce to be found anywhere in the region can be purchased just a couple blocks east.  The Forsyth Farmers Market is open every Saturday through Nov. 20. A program called Wholesome Wave, “doubles the value of Federal Food Stamps, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” when used at the market.

Barton does make a good point, though, that the new Food Lion’s impact will go beyond nutrition, writing, “In terms of re-energizing this struggling corridor south of the I-16 flyover, this project isn’t just big. It’s humongous.” He’s also correct in has assessment of the store as a “big plus” for folks without cars.

It’s a critical time for this important resource. The Bamboo Farm, which attracts 120,00 visitors a year and employees nine people, has been identified as a potential victim of the latest round of state budget cuts. Here’s a good description of what could be lost and what can be done to protect this important resource.

The Greening the Southeast Regional Summit

• Farming and Forestry
• Non-traditional Funding Sources
• Climate Change, Renewable Energy Sources, Food Access and Watersheds
• Successful Grassroots Models
• Green Action Plans for College Campuses

For more information, visit the summit Web site.

Landers describes the study’s methodology, which uses a variety of data sources “to come up with a block-by-block analysis of how convenient it is to choose fresh and healthy over fatty and fast. The group calculated a ‘food balance’ score for each city block by dividing the distance from it to any mainstream food provider (such as Kroger) by the distance to any fringe food venue (such as McDonald’s).”

The story  notes that lack of healthy food options is not exlusive to low income, inner city neighborhoods:

Kathryn Martin, chair of Healthy Savannah, knows that from first-hand experience. She’s lived in Southbridge since she moved to Savannah six years ago. “Southbridge is considered affluent, but when I moved there the closest place to access healthy food was 7 miles away in Pooler,” said Martin, a former administrator of the Chatham County Health Department who now is the Medical College of Georgia assistant dean for Southeast Georgia campus. “Officially, I was in a food desert.”

The difference, of course, between affluent communities such as Southbridge and some other neighborhoods is that nearly everyone in Southbridge has access to a car (sometimes more than one car) and thus easy access to healthy food. In other parts of Savannah, where residents depend on public transportation to travel outside their neighborhoods, the food that’s easy to find is often not the healthiest choice. And the study addresses this in one of its recommendations:

Identify traffic routes, especially pedestrian pathways, to mainstream food venues and identify ways to shorten and improve those routes. The dot maps showing the locations of mainstream and fringe food venues will aid in prioritizing where to start on this task.

The study, “A New Day in the Garden: A Food Desert and Food Balance Analysis in Savannah, Georgia,” can be downloaded here.

Folks, who have made a stop at the Forsyth Farmers Market part of their Saturday morning routine, now have more chances to buy locally grown food directly from the farmers, who grew it.  The market’s season, originally scheduled to conclude today, has been extended for another month. What’s the deal with the market?

The Forsyth Farmers Market was organized by the Savannah Local Food Collaborative  with the primary mission of making fresh, regionally grown produce easily accessible to the citizens of Savannah. The market is limited to agricultural and horticultural products.

Located near the tennis courts at the south end of the park, the market lasts from 9 a.m, to 1 p.m. and is open rain or shine. EBT cards are accepted. On the second Saturday of each month, a “Health Pavilion” features lectures and workshops. A schedule is available on the market’s Web site.