Grocery Stores on Wheels

The next wave of food trucks aren't whipping up Korean tacos for adventurous foodies or slinging ice cream to kids. Instead, they're delivering fresh meat and produce in an effort to improve public health in low-income communities.

A few months ago, a Chicago non-profit launched Fresh Moves, a one-aisle grocery store on a bus that sells pineapples, mangoes, collard greens, onions and other fresh fruits and vegetables in West Side neighborhoods like Lawndale and Austin, where locals have minimal access to fresh produce. A 2006 study by consultant Mari Gallagher linked these food deserts – defined by the USDA as a census tract more than a mile from a grocery store – to increased diabetes and other diet-related maladies, as well as premature death.