Food Deserts: Stephen Ritz of Green Bronx Machine On How They Are Helping To Address The Problem of People Having Limited Access to Healthy & Affordable Food Options
GREEN NEW DEAL FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS — Mandate that schools provide free, only-healthy food for 2.5 meals per day for all.
NUTRITION/EDUCATION — Schools need to start teaching nutrition and scratch cooking at an early age as part of the comprehensive curriculum. Self-care beats healthcare!
In many parts of the United States, there is a crisis caused by people having limited access to healthy & affordable food options. This in turn is creating a host of health and social problems. What exactly is a food desert? What causes a food desert? What are the secondary and tertiary problems that are created by a food desert? How can this problem be solved? Who are the leaders helping to address this crisis?
In this interview series, called “Food Deserts: How We Are Helping To Address The Problem of People Having Limited Access to Healthy & Affordable Food Options” we are talking to business leaders and non-profit leaders who can share the initiatives they are leading to address and solve the problem of food deserts.
As a part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Stephen Ritz, Founder of Green Bronx Machine.
Stephen Ritz is an internationally acclaimed, award-winning educator, author of best-selling book, The Power Of A Plant and Founder of Green Bronx Machine. Known as America’s favorite teacher and 2015 Top Ten Finalist for the Global Teacher Prize, Stephen is responsible for creating the first edible classroom in the world. He and his students have grown more than 115,000 pounds of vegetables in the South Bronx, were celebrated at the Obama White House three times, have been featured on the cover of TIME for KIDS, and are the subject of a new, full-feature documentary, Generation Growth. Recently, Stephen has hosted several episodes of the new PBS educational series Let’s Learn with Mister Ritz, was named the 2020 Change-Maker Award by NYC Food Policy Center for his response to COVID, and was awarded the 2021 Artemis CEA Disruptor Award for his work, advocacy, and impact in public schools across NYC and America.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
To be clear, I’m an accidental success; I never imagined being either a teacher or a farmer. However, even as a child, I always liked to have and make an impact on the world and others around me. I had hoped to be an architect/urban planner/artist. In many ways, I feel I have become a social architect and social artist, so the work/dream continues to come full circle. What led me down the path and keeps me blazing new ones is the ability to have and generate impact. To know that you can touch lives and leave the world and your own community better than you have found it / them is indeed inspiring.
As a “farmer,” to be able to plant seeds, to see a crop (or people) come to harvest, to perpetuate life, and to be able to nourish minds and bodies, and restore/respect the planet is the consummate blessing. Under the most unique and unexpected circumstances, I found that I had a certain gift with children and community, to not utilize that gift to better the world seemed foolish. I also believe that service is the price we must all pay for the privilege of life, so I love doing, giving and creating service opportunities — for myself and others. It’s not about giving back but always paying it forward.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began your career?
My career has been an unexpected and remarkable ride. It is an evolution — and it is continually just starting/restarting and getting better. Every day is an opportunity to lift my face towards the sun and do something great — to make a difference in some way, be it big or small — but every drop fills the cup. Being invited to meet the Pope and visiting the Obama White House three times, and, of course, having my portrait painted by Robert Shetterly and being featured in Americans Who Tell the Truth are amazing honors — far more than I could have ever imagined. But closer to home, it is seeing children grow up happy and healthy, having them return to me for advice and support, creating impact, leaving the world better — all this continues to make me smile and approach all that I do with passion, purpose, hope and eternal optimism.
I’m proud to be the CEO — Chief Eternal Optimist — of the Bronx! 116,000 pounds of vegetables later, my favorite crops are happy, healthy, children — high performing public schools — and families who have gone from surviving, to thriving! Maya Angelou said it best: “My wish for you is that you continue. Continue to be who you are. To astonish a mean world with your random acts of kindness.” That is my North Star.
Are you able to identify a “tipping point” in your career when you started to see success? Did you start doing anything different? Are there takeaways or lessons that others can learn from that?
My dear friend New York State Senator Gustavo Rivera taught me it is hard to sip a cool drink of water from a firehouse — so I’ve learned to be measured, thoughtful, and deliberate in all that I do. Nobody can follow a car that is careening all over the highway. I’ve learned to stay in my lane to generate impact. There is also no “I” in “TEAM,” so giving credit to and acknowledging others is at the heart of what I do. I’m a big believer in building concentric circles of success and celebrating often. That said, as the work took off, so did my waistline — and my tipping point was personal pain — physical and emotional. I became tired of living in it and with it. Once I inwardly took care of my issues and my health via changing my eating, everything changed for the better — the old adage, nothing changes if nothing changes. Change starts with individual behavior. As for the work itself, growing your own food is really cool. It teaches children everything. You can’t go from seed to harvest without cultivation and nurture in the middle. Therein is a life lesson for all on so many levels.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person to whom you are grateful who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I stand on the shoulders of giants and I am forever grateful. We are all the sum of our inputs. My success is simply reflective of all that has been poured into and invested in me. I absolutely thank my family — including my extended student and community family — and that is what this work is all about — creating healthy, cohesive, productive, resilient families. Professionally, my college advisor, Dr. Stan Zucker — Arizona State University — gave me an opportunity when nobody else would — for that, I am forever grateful. What he taught me was to always assess whether failure was the result of incompetence or non-compliance? Huge difference and of course, the answer is to always teach to both accordingly.
You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
PASSION — you’ve got to love what you do, passion keeps you showing up.
PURPOSE — you’ve got to know what you are seeking to accomplish. Purpose gives you direction, allows you to set goals.
HOPE — you’ve got to see the the value of what you are doing long term. Hope allows you to be the light inside of your tunnel instead of chasing a moving light at the end.
I believe that leaders create opportunities for others to be great. Nobody rises to low expectations. Set and keep the bar as high as possible in all that you do and with others. Be mindful that opportunity dances with those on the dance floor — you’ve got to show up and be present. Be the person who you want to work for. Think culture, culture, culture! Always follow the GOLDEN RULES! Never let good get in the way of great. Always remain a work in progress. Stay humble and grateful. And remember, you need not set yourself on fire to keep another person warm.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
Always bear in mind that you don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start in order to be great! Every journey starts with a step — so step boldly, proudly, and purposefully — remembering that the degree to which we each resist injustice — in any form — is the degree to which we are all free. Always bear in mind that the opposite of courage is not cowardice — the opposite of courage is conformity, because even a dead fish can go with the flow. Don’t be a dead fish — get out there and just keep swimming!
Ok super. Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about Food Deserts. I know this is intuitive to you, but it will be helpful to expressly articulate this for our readers. Can you please tell us what exactly a food desert is? Does it mean there are places in the US where you can’t buy food?
Food is the language through which society reveals itself — who has access to what, where, when and at what price — be it high or low — determines everything. In an overt way, many folks feel the pain of high prices, but similarly, when soda is cheaper than water — that too has an enormous long term price tag and pain points we never think about quarter to quarter.
Defining food is critical. So much of what we eat is now CRAP — Calorie Rich And Processed. I call it a MESS — Manufactured Edible Synthetic Substances — with infinite shelf life in single serve packaging. Many people have no idea what “real food” is, where it truly comes from — and what goes into getting it from “somewhere” to your mouth — much of this intentional and by design.
There are places where food is scarce — that means there is a lack of food, period.
Then, there are communities that are besieged with cheap food, “convenience” food — CRAP, MESS, fast food, processed food — communities with an absolute lack of fresh food, fruits and vegetables, healthy options, and seasonal offerings.
This is what some people refer to as “food deserts.” I call them “food swamps” — fifty flavors of cheap soda and candy / shelves of empty calories, palm oil, high fructose corn syrup, chips — food and products bathed in fossil fuel. These stores and establishments abound in low income, marginalized, indigenous, immigrant, and black and brown communities.
Increasingly, we see the crown, the king, the colonel, and the “celebritization” of food, products, logos, in communities like these — all designed to increase consumption, profit and satiate — but with little intent to nourish — or replenish their communities or the earth / ecosystems. This model simultaneously pushes out supermarkets, farmer’s markets, mom and pop establishments and slow food / good food / real food opportunities. It is an extraction economy leaving death, disease and dis-ease in its wake.
Good food/whole food/healthy food should be a basic human right for all — we are living in a world of abundance. It is time to right the ship and our collective course.
Can you help explain a few of the social consequences that arise from food deserts? What are the secondary and tertiary problems that are created by a food desert?
Simply put, cheap food leads to lots of expensive problems — and usually in communities that are overburdened in the first place. Be it health problems such as obesity, diabetes, coronary disease, cancer rates, early onset of puberty, malnourishment, failure to thrive, poor school performance, decreased self-esteem, mood issues — in many ways, obesity has now become the face of hunger and malnutrition.
Cheap food also leads to economic issues — creating rent disparities, displacing good jobs/small mom and pop shops and lacking career opportunities. The ripple effects are huge. To think that many/most full-time employees in this industry live below poverty levels is unconscionable — yet here we are.
The environmental consequences — be it packaging, plastics, food miles, trash, litter — are staggering, both locally and globally. Our obsession with cheap and convenient has led people to believe that the planet, people, places and products are all disposable. They are not.
When the food you eat does not nourish and fuel your mind or your body, and the way it is produced degrades our planet and the people producing it, it is a requisite for short and long term disaster.
Where did this crisis come from? Can you briefly explain to our readers what brought us to this place?
Our obsession with cheap and convenient has led us to collective catastrophe. The food system is not broken, it is doing exactly what it is designed to do — extract as much from as many as possible and concentrate power and real resources in the hands of a few.
We don’t need to be fix a broken system — we need to look at creating a new one. It demands healing, compassion, empathy, patience, fortitude, and courage. It requires and demands fair, good, just and nutritious food and wages. It involves concentric economies — not extractive or exploitive — of anyone or anything.
We have got to see people, food, and the world as far more than spreadsheets and quarter to quarter earnings statements if we are going to survive. Racism, greed, corruption and selfishness have brought us to this point. The pandemic brought these crises, along with others, front and center. But, the alarm clock has been sounding for years! That said, I’m excited about the new era of consciousness, advocacy and transparency.
Can you describe to our readers how your work is making an impact to address this crisis? Can you share some of the initiatives you are leading to help correct this issue?
If not us, who? If not now, when? I understand that children will never be well read if they are not well fed. I believe the most important school supply in the world is food. Hungry and malnourished children will never learn.
Ensuring that good food and healthy food is on every child’s plate is tantamount to me and cultivating that palate — at the youngest age possible — especially in school — is the express ramp to the expressway of health and achievement. Our work is cultivating the next generation of children who want to eat healthy, perform well in school, understand that they are part of a living, breathing ecosystem and we are proud to provide tools to teachers and school systems to create whole school and community transformation.
Both before and during COVID, we have been able to provide systemic solutions for food access, food security, workforce development, and supporting our most vulnerable residents — these approaches can transfer to any community. Along the way, we are growing the next generation of social, environmental, food justice, and sustainability champions / equity warriors. Everything we did and do is designed for scale and replication. Our 2020, Green Bronx Machine Impact Report captures our impact across multiple silos. I encourage everyone to see my talk at VERGE — filmed right before the 2020 election and during the height of the pandemic — to learn more.
Can you share something about your work that makes you most proud? Is there a particular story or incident that you found most uplifting?
Knowing that our hometown, locally grown program is now touching over 50,000 students a day across 20 states and five nations is inspiring. To have built the first wheelchair accessible commercial farm and kitchen as well as the first foster-care run, commercial, greenhouse farm in America — in the heart of Appalachia — continues to make me Bronx proud. I was recently named a COVID HERO by NYC Food Policy Center, to be recognized by my peers in my home town — in the greatest city in the world — is humbling. Similarly, to be able to bring children from the South Bronx to present at the Obama White House, not once, but three times, speaks to the power of public education we champion. Let me thank former White House executive pastry chef Bill Yosses for helping to make that happen.
That said, recently a fifth grader asked me for a can of soda in front of a peer. His peer responded, “Asking Mr. Ritz for a can of soda is like asking your mom for a cigarette! Ask Mr. Ritz for water, for mint-tea, but never ask Mr. Ritz for soda, ya heard?”
In your opinion, what should other business and civic leaders do to further address these problems? Can you please share your “5 Things That Need To Be Done To Address The Problem of People Having Limited Access to Healthy & Affordable Food Options”? If you can, please share a story or example for each.
I believe that change starts with individuals. Please realize that every day, you vote with your fork, your mouth, your wallet, your affiliations and, of course, at the ballot box. Vote like your life and planet depend on it — because they do.
Our decisions and behavior matter! To that end, it is all about policy, policy, policy. Not regulation — but good, common sense. As a world, we need to stop seeing and using children as epicenters of profit, and instead teach them to be producers, nurturers, kind empathetic souls. They are our seeds — we must cultivate them properly. We must become citizen farmers in all that we do. And whether we farm seeds or ideas — we must always drive the notion that when we teach children about nature, we teach them to nurture; and when we teach children to nurture, we as a society embrace and cultivate our better nature. That is what this work is all about — cultivation.
ZONING — Zoning laws need to favor fresh food and healthy food distribution access rather than favor fast food/junk food proliferation.
PRODUCTS — Businesses should be incentivized to provide healthy options at lower prices, even if it requires subsidies. The health of our children, small farmers, and our environment are worth it.
GREEN NEW DEAL FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS — Mandate that schools provide free, only-healthy food for 2.5 meals per day for all.
NUTRITION/EDUCATION — Schools need to start teaching nutrition and scratch cooking at an early age as part of the comprehensive curriculum. Self-care beats healthcare!
TECHNOLOGY — The amount of information we have access to in real time now is staggering. We need to learn to maximize access to information and benefits in seamless ways for all.
Are there other leaders or organizations who have done good work to address food deserts? Can you tell us what they have done? What specifically impresses you about their work? Perhaps we can reach out to them to include them in this series.
This work is best done together. I applaud the spirit of collaboration and coalition I am seeing across the nation — and I love when folks use their platform for a greater good.
NYC Food Policy Center has done a great job of gathering and distributing information. Dr. Charles Platkin and Alexina Cather are two of the most collaborative and giving people you could ever ask for. Their ability to bring everyone together is remarkable. Non-profits have a tremendous role to play — especially when they are on mission, create a multiplier effect, support public education and co-pete rather than compete.
Two non-profits that I adore and that deserve support, beyond Green Bronx Machine, include Chef Ann Foundation and WholeKids Foundation. They are transforming schools and food access/education systemically.
Celebrities and athletes have their role too. With privilege, comes responsibility. I can think of no greater example than Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks. His work to transform public education and food access in schools across Chicagoland earned him Chicagoan of the Year accolades — not only are his schools high performing with children eating better, they are now hockey fans too!
The Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation have worked to support impact players in the food access/hunger alleviation space for countless individuals. If ever an organization was run right and equitably, they are a model — their kindness and vision are beyond inspiring.
Mindful that NYC Department of Education has a new Chancellor, Meisha Porter-Ross, who built her career in the Bronx, puts our Borough and our challenges — which she knows all too well — on the map in a huge way; it’s great to see local talent at the top.
Similarly, I could not be more excited about NYC’s next Mayor, Eric Adams. Eric is a vegan, food champion, equity warrior who has reversed his own diabetes and critical health issues simply by embracing food as medicine and putting nutrition, wellness, and mindfulness at the forefront to his personal practices in a public way. His commitment to healthy food and healthy learning is an exemplar as well.
Of course, I always look at business and industry. The amazing story and success of Gotham Greens is inspiring — reducing footprint, creating food access and good jobs. Founder Viraj Puri is a hero.
The vision and collaborative powers of Michiel Bakker at Google have transformed the workplace, behaviors, eating habits and health of so many employees, many of whom take that home to their families. Google knows a thing or two about scaling — and their commitment to sourcing, reducing food waste, and food imprint is game-changing.
Thought leaders such as Joel Makower and the amazing folks at GreenBiz are bringing information, transformation and transparency to the world in a way that creates a new quintuple bottom line — people, planet, profits, progress and purpose. I am grateful to all of them and proud to call them my colleagues.
If you had the power to influence legislation, are there laws that you would like to see introduced that might help you in your work?
ZONING — We need to have caps on the proliferation of fast-food chains within communities. Post COVID with lots of business loss, we have the opportunity to look at developing and reinventing blended and walkable communities in ways we have never imagined.
We can convert restaurants and retail space to pop up shops, kitchen incubation sites, nonprofit sites, reduce school crowding, and host local farmers at reduced rents. We know that dollars spent locally — and with local people — circulate and remain local.
Further, we need to eliminate the tax incentives that enable speculative landlords to hold property at exorbitant rents and take the tax deduction. What we should do is fine landlords who don’t actively rent property at fair market rates and / or incentivize local business to develop instead.
PRODUCTS — Stores proximate to schools and public housing that accept EBT and SNAP should be mandated to have a certain percentage of fresh and local food for sale in order to qualify for the benefit redemption. This incentivizes stores to provide access and maintain inventory. Stores that are predominately soda, chips, candy, alcohol, tobacco and beer should not be allowed to be redemption sites. I’m not saying close them. I’m saying incentivize folks to go to places with better access. Additionally, stores with “six foot” storefronts and “seven foot hookah or smoke products” in the window should not be allowed to be access points for SNAP / EBT redemption.
SCRATCH COOKING/REVAMPING MEALS IN SCHOOLS — Reduce the amount of processed food/heat-and-serve options in public schools and replace it with scratch and cook/whole food options. Kudos to the Chef Ann Foundation for all that they do! Every school should have an indoor academic learning garden and a salad bar.
Children need to know what food is and how it grows. Children who grow kale in school eat kale. Further, according to the USDA, elementary school students who have access to salad bars consume 43% more vegetables over the course of their lives than non-salad bar peers.
Growing food also moves children away from perfect food to embrace imperfect food — creating a consumer base for this is critical. Eliminating chocolate milk, sweetened beverages and replacing them with fruit and veggie infused water, water jets would do wonders.
We have made the transition here in the South Bronx and the results speak for themselves. Incorporating the USDA’s Fresh Fruit and Vegetable (FFV) Program for snacks has been one of the most successful moves in schools like ours. The little ones love apples, bananas, citrus, grapes, carrots — plus they can take them home. Our FFV program is so popular.
Cultivating the appetite for fresh food at a young age is easier and creates a hockey stick trajectory of health benefits. Make the best choice the easiest choice in schools. Instead of Meatless Monday, imagine meat only on Mondays, with the rest of week being people/planet friendlier options. Research indicates that when making the most accessible choice the healthiest, folks everywhere opt in. Education is critical.
TECHNOLOGY — Expanding the use of Health Bucks/SNAP/EBT is critical. Kudos to the P-EBT Program. Imagine creating applications on phones that could alert people to benefit-eligible products and coupons or local food hubs at schools / community centers / vacant real-estate where folks could pick up food, access / apply for benefits, learn to cook, prepare and store food. Further, using technology to look at approaching expiration dates, sourcing left-over foods, food waste, local logistics, and infrastructure put unprecedented opportunities at our finger-tips.
THE GREEN NEW DEAL FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS — Inviting and facilitating students to imagine a society based on principles of ecology and social equality. It is critical that we come to terms with the fact that brutal inequality affects those who are least responsible for it. This happens in classrooms. Schools have a critical role to play in creating new realities and alternatives to the problems we are facing daily. Understanding food and health is critical. I support HR 109 and that former Bronx school principal, now Congressman Jamaal Bowman, championing HR 109 speaks to hero educators / activists / equity warriors and the challenge before us — let us all come together to support him and HR 109. I am beyond proud to see my community and my students in this new video to be played in Congress.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Simply put, if I could convince every school to teach children to grow their own food, cook their own food, consume less crap, and care about themselves and the planet, we’d be living in a very different, far less complicated and conflicted world. The work of Green Bronx Machine sets that as our collective agenda. I’m on a mission, walk with me, work with me. I’m asking everyone to do their part. You can reach me directly. I welcome your support and partnership. Let’s do this and make epic happen!
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
I recently had the honor and pleasure of hosting Congressman Jim McGovern here in our Bronx classroom — The National Health, Wellness and Learning Center at CS 55. He and I are 100% committed to ending hunger, reducing food insecurity, creating nutrition assistance and food equity. I’m hoping he and I can meet with President and Mrs. Biden to convene a White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Hunger. If not us, who? If not now, when? We are the folks we are waiting for!
How can our readers further follow your work online?
You can learn more at the Green Bronx Machine and Stephen Ritz websites. Check out my book, The Power Of Plant, see the trailer for our new documentary, Generation Growth, and have your little ones tune into our new educational TV show, Let’s Learn with Mr. Ritz. I’m on LinkedIn and social media too.
And here are three videos:
Stephen Ritz Speaking at Verge 2020: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMHF0xb17Io
Green Bronx Machine — We Grow Happy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sH1SqtANsc8
Green Bronx Machine — We Grow Healthy: https://greenbronxmachine.org/video/we-grow-healthy/
This was very meaningful, thank you so much, and we wish you only continued success.
Food Deserts: Stephen Ritz of Green Bronx Machine On How They Are Helping To Address The Problem… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.