Draining the Food Swamp
Welcome to Reported, the Santa Fe Reporter’s new podcast digging into the stories and investigations the newspaper knows you’ve read but wants you to hear.
I’m Katherine Lewin, your host and the journalist on this story. You’re listening to Episode Number 1, Draining the Food Swamp. It’s a journey through the Southside’s struggling, patchwork food landscape.
Many families in this farthest southern portion of the city can't afford or reasonably access healthy foods, and it takes substantial effort to get to a grocery store. Researchers have long-identified Santa Fe as a network of both food deserts (those are low-income neighborhoods that lack easy access to healthy, affordable food) and food swamps (places where unhealthy foods are more readily available than healthy choices).
That's no secret here in the capital city. Through a close analysis of government data bolstered by spot checking and mapping tools, plus dozens of interviews, I found that the problem appears to be worsening, particularly on the Southside, where fast food restaurants and convenience stores outnumber grocery stores at a higher ratio than ever.