Newyork Foods

Newyork Foods: Feeding 8.8 million Residents

If you look at a grid and look at New York City, the five boroughs, the density of population, the traffic issues, the bridges, the isolation, the water - it's complex. Those things really matter when it comes to distributing food on an everyday basis. Like much of how this remarkable city works, it all boils down to a highly complex system, including these critical 329 acres in the Bronx. Hunts Point Food Distribution Center isn't just big - it's the largest of its kind in the world. 4.5 billion pounds of food pass through here each year, with 50% of it going to New York City. If enough goes wrong, it could spell disaster. And even with the largest food distribution center in the world, this city struggles to feed everyone. Two million New Yorkers suffer from food insecurity. The biggest issue that we have is that there's a big disparity of those who have and those who have not. A lot of it has to do with access. Here's how New York City goes about feeding its 8.8 million residents:

There's no question that New York City has the best food. About 85 to 90 different frozen items can be found in your local fish market. Forget about the Empire State Building; the Fulton Fish Market is literally New York City to the core. Think about New York as this melting pot of all these different cultures and all these different food demands. It takes a lot of coordination, a lot of logistics. New York City is world-famous for its diverse and extensive food culture, with 42,000 food businesses across the five boroughs. But between bites of hot dogs and foldable pizza, have you ever thought about the journey all that food takes to reach the mouths of every New Yorker and the city's 60 million annual tourists?

If you've ever gone out to eat in the Big Apple, you might have noticed there's plenty to choose from. That's because more than 19 billion pounds of food from around the world flow through the city each year. Waiting at the end of the line are tens of thousands of businesses, from grocery stores to bodegas to restaurants, ready to serve hungry and impatient New Yorkers. Half of all food comes in via any of these entry points:

four bridges and two tunnels. Almost all of the food (95%) is carried by refrigerator trucks like these. In fact, on any given day, nearly 30% of trucks that cross the George Washington Bridge are carrying food. The trucks are headed for one of several major food distribution centers across the five boroughs, the largest being these six, but the largest of those by far is Hunts Point.

So the Hunts Point Distribution Center is made up of three distinct markets: Hunts Point Cooperative Meat Market, the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Market, and then the new Fulton Fish Market. New York City EDC leases the space on behalf of New York City to these cooperatives, and then they have these sub-tenants. The market has 155 different vendors - wholesalers, distributors, packagers, and manufacturers - and they employ 8,500 jobs. The site sends out 4.5 billion pounds of food for wholesale each year, with half being shipped out of town and the other dispersed across the boroughs.

Considered the New York Stock Exchange of seafood, Fulton Fish Market was one of the city's earliest open-air fish markets, dating back to 1822. New Yorkers young and old, they all have stories of "I used to take a cab with my grandpa down to the fish market to get the feast of the seven fishes." Such passionate stories and age-old traditions. This market has played such a pivotal role in not only shaping New York City but shaping this country.