Imagine living in a place where accessing fresh fruits, vegetables, and other healthy foods is a constant struggle. For millions of people in the United States and around the world, this is the reality of living in what is commonly termed a “food desert.” While the term itself might conjure images of barren landscapes, the reality of food deserts is rooted in social and economic disparities within our communities. Organizations like the Food Empowerment Project (F.E.P.) highlight that the term “food desert,” while widely used, can be misleading as it focuses primarily on proximity to food providers, neglecting crucial factors like systemic racism, economic hardship, and the availability of culturally appropriate and affordable food options. Terms like “food apartheid” or “food oppression” more accurately capture the systemic nature of this problem, but “food desert” remains the most recognized term in public discourse.
Food deserts are essentially geographic areas where residents face significant barriers to obtaining affordable and nutritious food, particularly fresh produce. This lack of access is often due to the absence of grocery stores and supermarkets within convenient traveling distance. A stark illustration of this is a report from the US Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, which revealed that approximately 2.3 million people in the US, representing 2.2% of all households, live more than a mile from a supermarket and do not own a car.
In urban settings, while public transportation might seem like a solution, the reality is that economic pressures have driven supermarkets out of many inner-city areas. This leaves residents facing lengthy and complex journeys involving multiple buses or trains just to reach a grocery store. The situation is even more challenging in suburban and rural areas where public transportation is limited or non-existent, and supermarkets can be miles away, making access to healthy food a significant hurdle.
The Socioeconomic Dimensions of Food Deserts
Beyond geographical distance, the defining characteristic of food deserts is socioeconomic. These areas are disproportionately located in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods, where car ownership is less common. Research consistently demonstrates the stark disparities in supermarket access based on wealth and race. Studies have shown that wealthier districts often have three times as many supermarkets compared to poorer ones. Furthermore, predominantly white neighborhoods, on average, boast four times the number of supermarkets found in predominantly Black neighborhoods. Even when grocery stores are present in African-American communities, they are often smaller, with a more limited selection of fresh and healthy foods.
The choices people make about what to eat are fundamentally shaped by what is available and affordable to them. Tragically, many food deserts are saturated with fast food chains offering cheap, often heavily processed, “meat” and dairy-based options loaded with unhealthy fats, sugar, and salt. Corner delis, convenience stores, and liquor stores, which are often more prevalent in food deserts, typically stock processed foods like snack cakes, chips, and soda, further contributing to the lack of nutritious choices.
Unveiling Hidden Food Deserts: The Limitations of Government Data
The Food Empowerment Project’s report, “Shining a Light on the Valley of Heart’s Delight (PDF),” illuminates how relying solely on government data can lead to an underestimation of the extent of food deserts. A significant issue lies in the US government’s North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), which categorizes retail outlets selling food. Under the NAICS code, small corner grocery stores are grouped together with large supermarkets like Safeway or Whole Foods Market. This means that a community lacking a supermarket but having a couple of corner stores selling liquor and limited food items would be statistically counted as having two retail food outlets. This categorization masks the reality that the food available in these corner stores is often extremely limited and primarily consists of unhealthy “junk food.”
Furthermore, the F.E.P. report highlighted the common practice in many convenience stores within food deserts of selling individual pieces of fruit, like bananas or apples, without clearly marked prices. This leaves customers, particularly those with limited English proficiency, vulnerable to price gouging, as they may be hesitant to ask for the price and are at the mercy of the cashier’s discretion.
Cultural Appropriateness, Dietary Needs, and the Cost Disparity
Beyond the basic availability of healthy food, residents of food deserts often face challenges in finding foods that are culturally appropriate for their diets. Dietary restrictions, such as lactose intolerance or gluten allergies, further limit food choices for individuals who lack access to larger chain stores with a wider selection of specialized products.
Adding to the burden, studies have revealed that urban residents in food deserts often pay significantly more for groceries at small neighborhood stores compared to their suburban counterparts shopping at supermarkets. These price differences can range from 3 to a staggering 37 percent higher for the same products.
This cost disparity extends to the price of healthy versus unhealthy foods. Healthier options are generally more expensive, and this price gap is amplified in food deserts. For example, between 1989 and 2005, the overall price of fruits and vegetables in the US surged by nearly 75 percent, while the price of fatty foods actually decreased by over 26 percent during the same period. While food price inflation strains household budgets across all income levels, the higher cost of healthy foods often makes them completely inaccessible to lower-income individuals and families living in food deserts.
The Devastating Health Consequences of Food Deserts
While choosing unhealthy, cheaper foods might seem like a short-term economic necessity, the long-term consequences of limited access to healthy foods are devastating. Food deserts are a major contributing factor to the statistically higher rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and other diet-related health conditions prevalent in ethnic minority and low-income populations.
Obesity, regardless of age, significantly elevates the risk of serious and even life-threatening health disorders, particularly coronary heart disease and diabetes – the first and seventh leading causes of death in the US, respectively.
The incidence of diabetes among US adults doubled between 1996 and 2007. Type 2 diabetes, often linked to obesity, accounts for a staggering 90 to 95 percent of these cases. Alarmingly, type 2 diabetes, once virtually unknown in individuals under 40, has increased tenfold among adolescents in the past decade, mirroring the escalating rates of obesity in this age group. While the rise in type 2 diabetes affects all demographics, the most dramatic increases are concentrated in communities of color. Native American youth and African-Americans and Latinos of all ages experience disproportionately higher rates of type 2 diabetes compared to whites. These are also the communities most likely to reside in food deserts, and researchers have established a strong correlation between food insecurity and increased diabetes rates. A study in Chicago neighborhoods revealed that the death rate from diabetes in food deserts was double that of areas with supermarket access. Similarly, a California study found that adults aged 50 and over in communities of color had double the diabetes rate of white individuals in the same age group. Experts attribute this disparity to the high-calorie, unhealthy foods readily available in food deserts, which increase the initial risk of diabetes, and the limited access to healthy foods, which makes managing diabetes after diagnosis significantly more challenging.
Heart disease, another major health crisis, causes over 2.4 million deaths in the US annually. A primary culprit in cardiovascular disease is a diet rich in unhealthy fats and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol – precisely the type of diet fostered by the food environment in food deserts. Just as African-Americans are disproportionately likely to live in food deserts, heart disease is the leading cause of death for Black Americans, exceeding rates for whites, despite whites making up a much larger percentage of the US population. Even children and adolescents living in food deserts face an elevated risk of cardiovascular disease, both in the present and in their future adulthood, due to the increased prevalence of obesity within these communities.
Food for Thought: Community and Policy Solutions
Public awareness of the serious issues posed by food deserts is growing, largely due to the tireless efforts of community activists, entrepreneurs, and government officials dedicated to improving healthy food access. On a national level, former First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign spearheaded initiatives to combat childhood obesity, including a goal to eliminate food deserts by 2017 with a $400 million government investment focused on providing tax incentives to supermarkets opening in underserved areas. Many urban centers are also implementing local strategies to address their food desert challenges.
Chicago: Over half a million Chicago residents, predominantly African-American, live in food deserts. An additional 400,000 reside in neighborhoods dominated by fast food outlets with no nearby grocery stores. Food justice advocates have responded by establishing food co-ops in underserved areas where traditional supermarkets have struggled. These co-ops, like Fresh Family Foods on Chicago’s South Side, not only sell fresh and organic produce, bulk whole grains and beans, and plant-based meat alternatives but also offer cooking and nutrition classes to empower residents to make healthier food choices.
Los Angeles: In 2008, the Los Angeles City Council took a bold step by enacting a moratorium on new fast food restaurants in a 32-square-mile zone encompassing some of South L.A.’s most severe food deserts – an area where approximately 97% of the population is Latino, African-American, or of mixed race. This reduction in fast food options created a greater demand for healthier alternatives, leading the Council to subsequently introduce financial incentives for grocery stores and sit-down restaurants serving healthier meals to open in underserved communities. These policies have successfully attracted the first new supermarket to South L.A. in roughly a decade.
New York City: An estimated 750,000 New York City residents live in food deserts, while approximately three million live in areas with limited access to fresh produce retailers. Rising rents and shrinking profit margins have led to supermarket closures across New York City, disproportionately impacting low-income communities, particularly predominantly African-American neighborhoods like East/Central Harlem and North/Central Brooklyn. To address this gap, New York City launched the Green Carts program in 2008, bringing affordable fresh fruits and vegetables to underserved areas while creating job opportunities for vendors. Hundreds of Green Carts are now operating in food deserts, and the program continues to expand as more vendors receive training, licenses, and permits.
What Can You Do If You Live in a Food Desert?
If you recognize that you are living in a food desert, know that you are not alone and that change is possible. Start by raising awareness within your community about what food deserts are and discussing potential solutions for collective action. Explore options like community gardens, farmers’ markets, and engaging with local retailers to stock healthier, plant-based food options. Crucially, make your voice heard by policymakers – city council members, state legislators, and other elected officials – to advocate for policies that improve food access in your community.
To further your understanding and involvement, connect with organizations working on food justice and food access issues. By working together, communities can overcome the challenges of food deserts and build a future where healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate food is accessible to everyone.
References:
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