Obesity and overweight are a real scourge in New York, affecting almost 58% of adults and 40% of children in New York. There are 6,000 deaths per year directly related to this disease of obesity (in the United States, since June 2013 , obesity is now considered a disease in its own right by the American Medical Association , attention: this consideration is recent, and should be taken with a grain of salt. This consideration is not universal).
New York continues to take initiatives in the face of its problems with obesity, such as the partial ban on the sale of sugary drinks over half a liter (we wrote an article about it, by the way, at the time: click here to consult it ).
A new original idea has germinated in New York: that of the giant vegetable garden. It is in the district of Red Hook that the project was established, and it is not by chance. Red Hook is out of the city and is reputed to be a “tough” neighborhood, where Al Capone reigned in his time. Red Hook, south of Brooklyn, was billed as the “crack capital” of the 80s by Time magazine.
The giant vegetable garden is part of an educational and social approach. The inhabitants are made aware of the healthiest food products (which the vegetable garden allows to produce). These products thus become accessible to a part of the population which normally turns more easily to the cheapest products (and therefore, often, the least healthy). The vegetable garden is a real training center for a disadvantaged population. Thus the fight against obesity is organized with everyone’s participation.
Technically, the vegetable garden is built on 4000m².
Part of the resources produced will go directly to some poor families.
The other part of the resources will be resold in order to self-finance the vegetable garden.
