Brahm Ahmadi and his colleagues at People’s Grocery work off the basic principle that everyone has a right to a healthy diet. “All people—regardless of social and economical constraints—should have access to the best foods possible in our society,” he says.

For decades, major grocery chains have steadily abandoned urban areas for the promise of perpetual growth through suburban sprawl. As a result, residents of low-income inner-city neighborhoods either end up traveling great distances for everyday food items, or settle for whatever is available at the local convenience store. They often pay up to 70 percent more for their food than the average American, and this lack of access to fresh produce means they also are more susceptible to chronic diseases. In Oakland, CA, an area that has been called one of the most dangerous cities in America, the number one killer isn’t homicide—it’s heart disease.

In an attempt to break this vicious cycle, Ahmadi and his fellow food justice activists created People’s Grocery in their West Oakland community, a non-profit that educates residents on nutrition, supports local and minority farmers, and promotes job training and entrepreneurship. The result is nothing short of a paradigm shift in the way food is distributed.

“We’re trying to reinvent a model that is more appropriate and better adapted to the realities of these communities—spatially, economically, culturally,” he says.

In this interview, Brahm Ahmadi and Simran Sethi discuss a number of topics related to food justice, from eliminating the “middle men” of distributors and wholesalers to discussing the intricacies of food stamp policies.

Ultimately, Ahmadi says, these food inequities will disappear only when food suppliers establish an economic model that puts social justice above the bottom line.

“We do believe there is a degree of ‘enough’ and we can reach that degree of ‘enough’ and be very happy and content and successful.”

By Ranjit Arab