Community Food Guide

Introduction

This food environment guide is about the food options in our community, Pembroke Pines, Florida. The guide illustrates the different options to eat and buy food in our community. Then, the guide will explain the amount of accessibility of the options and recommendations of ways to improve access to healthy food in our city. The cost of different foods in our community is very varied. There are very inexpensive options with a range of very expensive options. Please look at the community food map on the next page to learn more about the diverse cultures and restaurants in our community of Pembroke Pines, Florida.

𝔸𝕧𝕒𝕚𝕝𝕒𝕓𝕚𝕝𝕚𝕥𝕪

𝑮𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒑𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔.

Availability is when and where a person can access food. Here in Pembroke Pines, there are several grocery stores and shops where people can easily access food. There is a wide variety of many types of food in our community. There are many options of cultural, inexpensive, and moderate restaurants available that offer many healthy options. However, the more expensive options may not be available to many people due to cost. It is helpful to have available places around our city that are open early or late. Our city has many restaurants and drive-throughs that are open late, some are even open 24 hours but there may not be healthy options. Fast food restaurants open early and have drive-throughs for fast pick up until late at night. For example, many grocery stores open early and close late, like Walmart, Walmart opens at 6 a.m. and closes at 11 p.m. Along with Publix, which opens at 7 a.m. and closes at 10 p.m.

COST

Publix: A common grocery store that is scattered in many places in Florida

There are many places in Pembroke Pines, Florida with different ranges of cost. For example, there are many grocery store options, however the stores have a pattern that healthier and more organic stores are more expensive than the less healthy ones. Restaurants with cheaper ingredients are usually less expensive, and so are restaurants that serve more ordinary food. Some less expensive restaurants are ones that serve pizza or fried foods. Some bakeries are also low cost but not all have nutritious options. These treats may taste good but having in your daily diet is not good. These bakeries offer food from different cultures. For example, Vicky's Cuban bakery has Cuban cuisine. There are several types of fast-food restaurants in Pembroke Pines, Florida that have healthy options. For example, Mcdonalds, Burger King, and Chick-Fli-A. All these places have some nutritious options. At each one there are varieties of salads. There are also many food trucks serving food from many different cultures with some unhealthy foods like fried food, and healthy foods like fresh salads. All in all, there is a great variation of cost in our community.

McDonalds: A very popular fast food place

Thai Food, one of the many cultural foods in our community.

Vicky's Bakery: A succesfull and well known bakery in Pembroke Pines, FL
https://www.vickybakery.com/

Many places in our community offer affordable food with some healthy options. The most affordable is Publix, where you can purchase food at a much lower cost than dining out. However, most restaurants do offer at least one or two healthy choices and some offer more. Chicken Kitchen, for example, is a restaurant that offers a full menu of healthy options at an affordable price. Many places are accessible by bus routes. There are also sidewalks along the bordering roads to offer safe ways to walk to the restaurants. Bike lanes are available on most roads throughout the city as well. Most restaurants have delivery options available. However, some delivery companies charge more than if you pick up in person. There are 2 farmer’s markets in our city that sell fresh fruits, vegetables and plants for people who want to plant their own plants but may not be accessible to everyone.

Accessibility

Pembroke Pines has many bike lanes that are accessible.
Photo from-http://www.browardmpo.org/

A Pembroke Pines city bus can take people from place to place if you don't have another vehicle
Photo from- https://www.sun-sentinel.com/

Options

“Https://Www.facebook.com/NineFivePho/.” Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/NineFivePho/.

By Jesus C.

There are many healthy options in our city, but they can be more expensive than junk food or processed foods. Our city is unique because there are many cultures in our city so that means that we have a wide variety of cultural options. Even though, they are cultural and delicious most of them are very unhealthy. It is not all bad though there are a few healthy food choices, but they can be a little hard to find. Some options include Nine Five Pho, Green Apple, Sushi Sake, and Flannigan's. There are many fast food options at low prices that have very few healthy options such as salads. Trader Joe's, a moderate priced market has a sufficient amount of healthy options. Hopefully, local restaurants will offer more healthy options on their menus.

“Flanigan's Seafood Bar & Grill.” Miami New Times, https://www.miaminewtimes.com/location/flanigans-seafood-bar-and-grill-6414966.

“Https://Www.google.com/Search?q=Sushi+Sake&Source=Lnms&Tbm=Isch&Sa=X&Ved=2ahUKEwjQhoqX-dn0AhVDVzABHQyRAugQ_AUoAnoECAMQBA&Safe=Active&Ssui=on#Imgrc=6-NIfTXD4gN1XM.” Google Search, Google, https://www.google.com/search?q=sushi%2Bsake&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQhoqX-dn0AhVDVzABHQyRAugQ_AUoAnoECAMQBA&safe=active&ssui=on#imgrc=6-NIfTXD4gN1XM.

Conclusion

In this digital project, we learned that in our area, there are many accessible food sources with all different types of cost. The foods we buy come from various places and cultures. Many of the options are affordable and healthy. A way to improve food security is to remove more unhealthy foods so people can choose better options. It's more healthy to pick the right options. Restaurants and grocery stores distribute food that is unwanted. We were surprised when we found out we had a food swamp. We have many grocery stores with healthy and nutritious options, but there are many highly processed foods that influence people instead of healthy foods.

natural chai farm & gardens - Google Search

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