We Need More Social Vitamins

I keep coming back to this idea: food gives us calories, but community gives us social vitamins. And right now, those vitamins are in short supply.

Think about it. In the last 25 years, the U.S. has lost about one-third of its grocery stores. When a local grocery store closes, a lot more disappears than the produce aisle. Grocery stores are often the third space in a town, the living room of society. They’re where you see a neighbor in the bread aisle, catch up with the cashier, or trade recipes. They’re also leveling spaces; where status doesn’t matter, where everyone’s treated equally.

But those third spaces are vanishing. The mall, the diner, the corner store, once social anchors, are fading away. And what we’re left with is what health experts call the loneliness pandemic. Seniors especially feel it. Families too.

That’s why I believe mobile markets are social infrastructure. They create a space to rebuild what’s been lost. They create a neutral place where kids can discover new foods, where seniors can meet a friendly face, where neighbors can share more than just groceries.

A mobile market stop is a weekly reminder that community still matters. It’s a chance to rebuild the ties that make us human.

We’re losing third spaces across the country. But we can build new ones. And sometimes, it looks like a truck full of fresh food parked right in the heart of a neighborhood.

Because good food fuels the body, and good company fuels the soul.

#ThirdPlace #SocialVitamins #FoodAccess #CommunityHealth #MobileMarkets #SocialInfrastructure #FoodJustice