Children don’t often think about the future stress of bills, and Allie Cook, 22, of Crown City, Ohio, certainly wasn’t one who gave it much thought. Allie wholeheartedly believes “don’t judge a book by its cover” as a proud Appalachian in a food desert.
She repeats the metaphorical phrase when discussing the stereotypes given to people in places like Crown City, where she has always lived. While outsiders may believe they can judge the worth or value of something (or someone) by its outward appearance, Allie knows that she has the same struggles as other young people across the world.
The soon to be first-generation graduate, along with her twin sister Autumn, studies Mechanical engineering and plans to stay where she considers home. Allie lives with her boyfriend, Burgess, his two sons — ages 11 and 8 — one cat and four dogs.
“Once you start paying for things on your own, it’s worrying, it’s scary,” Allie said. “I’m worried about how high it’s (grocery bills are) getting.”
As financial inconveniences are inevitable, she is “paranoid” about something happening to her car that she uses for work and school.
On the weekends, Allie goes to the store about 40 minutes from home to stock up with chicken, steak, and snacks for the children.
Occasionally Allie will pick up canned goods or snacks from the Dollar General 10 minutes away, but it isn’t always a valuable source for other things. She said the store is usually always out of milk or the coolers do not work when she goes.
She gets her eggs from her sister who owns three chickens. A majority of their family still live in the area and continue to support each other.
The two went to South Gallia schools in Crown City who provided free meals to all students. Allie said that the community has always helped families in the area — schools, churches, city hall, and the fire departments.
The twins had access to homemade meals growing up, and have benefited from their natural resources in the town that they continue to benefit from.
Well-balanced meals have always been important to the family, and Allie feels like people don’t always acknowledge that value of Appalachian households.
“I would never say that like food or money was a problem growing up,” Allie said. “Everyone made sure we ate, that we had food on our plate...That’s just how people here are.”
May 2022