This whole picture of food access and exposure has created a reality where obesity affects
more than 20 percent of African American children and 22 percent of Latino children, com-
pared to 14 percent of white children. 3 Youth who are obese are more likely to miss school
due to illness and have lower academic achievement, creating a vicious cycle of poverty
and poor health that can last well into adulthood.
Healthy food is not just kale and whole wheat bread. Healthy foods can be your traditional
foods, too, whatever those traditions are: “The purpose of all traditional diets is to impart
health on communities…They have been devised over thousands of years to make commu-
nities stronger.” 4
The food we eat has impacts on our communities and our health, but it does so much more
than that. It helps to define who we are, our personal identities and our cultures. This is why
it is important to eat food that is not only nutritious but is culturally relevant, to promote
our own health and cultural traditions, both of which have been repressed in today’s food
system.
(Right) Print: Ernesto Yerena. This image was made to honor corn, or maize. Industrially-produced corn gets a
bad rap, and rightfully so: It is a product of monocropping, and often gets turned into highly-processed foods.
But there’s more to corn than that. It is a sacred and staple food for many cultures, a cornerstone of many
culture’s diet and nutrition.
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