Health Food in Harlem
Originally posted November 2007 on Annual Gymkhana
Horsetail Grass, Uva Ursi, Dandelion Root and Gotu Kola- just some of the names on dusty boxes of tea which cluttered the shelves surrounding a petite woman behind the store counter.
Although she can’t reach the highest shelves without a stepladder, Ana Hernandez knows the name of all the remedies in her store and the afflictions they purport to solve. “I like the juices and the teas,” said Nick, a thickset, middle-aged man who Hernandez greats with familiarity, “I feel good when I drink them.”
Hernandez uses her health food store to promote her personal philosophy. She sells the vegetarian, vegan and organic products that make her feel healthy, and encourages others to eat the same.
Like the founder members of her church, the Seventh-Day Adventists, Hernandez teaches visitors to her store the importance of a balanced diet. She also leads the pro-health reformation within her local branch of the church.“Daniel saw the food and meat that the King had on his table,” she said, paraphrasing the biblical story, “He didn’t want that kind of food, only vegetables and seeds.”
Hernandez’s health food store in West Harlem is the only one for 20 blocks. Despite moving from a smaller store on Broadway to larger premises off Broadway last year, business has not much changed or improved.
The store’s Spanish handwritten signs and labels are a good indicator of Vida Saudable’s typical customers. “I used to sell more when there was a GNC over there,” she said referring to the General Nutrition Center formerly on Broadway. “For now the area is kind of poor and slow.”
While she believes she is providing what local people want and need, she admits there have been times where she struggled. “When it is very slow, I get scared and give people fliers to put under the doors in their apartment block,” she said of how she advertises. “I think it is working a little bit.”
For Ahijah Mitchell of vegetarian advocacy group Harlem Goes Veg! price has always been a factor when trying to turn people on to healthy and organic eating. While Mitchell does not deny that gentrification played some part in influencing the changing tastes of the local community, she also commended the efforts of local churches who hold health fairs as incentives to get the congregation to eat healthier, more balanced diets. “Before people would actually travel out of Harlem,” she said “We didn’t have an alternative.”
While gentrification could conceivably benefit Hernandez’s business in terms of the new, moneyed customers it would bring to the neighborhood, she appears resentful of any change that would displace her loyal, local clientele. “They want to change the neighborhood,” she said “The Latino people know that.”