This week’s episode of Dining on a Dime takes host Lucas Peterson into the heart of South Central Los Angeles. Watts is a small neighborhood, roughly only two square miles, that has been fighting to improve its socio-economic standing for decades. Watts was the site of widespread rioting in 1965, in response to poor social services and discrimination, among other things.
Today, Watts is fighting for nutritious, affordable food options into the neighborhood. In many low-income urban environments, only fast food restaurants are available, which tend to serve food high in fat and sugar. Chefs Roy Choi and Daniel Patterson seek to turn that model on its head; they opened LocoL, a fast food-style restaurant which features inexpensive food options that are a more nutritious alternative to the traditional chains, first in Watts (where Peterson visits in the video above), and later in Oakland.
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