Everything You Need To Know About Food Deserts
The availability of healthy food is a complex and prevalent issue in the United States. In 2020 alone, an estimated 13.8 million US households experienced food insecurity. While problems of hunger and poor nutrition can result directly from economic issues such as job loss or pandemic-related financial hardship, it can also come from a lack of availability in the first place.
Food deserts are places that are marked by a lack of stores selling healthy food in local areas. Here’s a closer look at what food deserts are, how they come to exist, and what we can do to alleviate them.
WHAT ARE FOOD DESERTS?
Just as environmental deserts are characterized by a lack of water, food deserts are characterized by a lack of healthy, affordable food. The concept is a bit vague and nebulous, with no quantitative parameters and no exact agreed-upon food desert definition. However, that broadness is what allows us to think about food deserts in the many different environments in which they occur.
Food deserts can be in urban or rural areas, and the lack of access to nutritious food can present itself in many ways. Stores offering healthy food and fresh produce may be geographically out-of-reach. Local shops may only offer low-cost and low-quality food. Or, there may be no locally accessible food at all.
CAUSES OF FOOD DESERTS
Food deserts result from a lack of proper access to and distribution of healthy food. The major root causes for these issues are poverty and systemic inequality. A USDA study on the characteristics and influential factors of food deserts found the following:
Areas with higher levels of poverty are more likely to be food deserts.
In all but very dense urban areas, the higher the percentage of minority population, the more likely the area is to be a food desert.
A 2014 study on food store availability in the US came to similar conclusions. Researchers found that supermarket availability decreased as poverty increased, and that “at equal levels of poverty, black census tracts had the fewest supermarkets, white tracts had the most, and integrated tracts were intermediate.”
These findings highlight the impact of systemic inequality on the nation’s food system. Racial and income inequality often create obstacles for food access, from transportation to affordability.
FOOD DESERT SOLUTIONS
Food deserts make it extremely difficult for the people within them to have healthy diets, which in turn negatively affects their overall health. Poor nutrition can lead to exacerbated health risks for conditions like diabetes. In Chicago, for example, studies show that “the death rate from diabetes in a food desert is twice that of areas with access to grocery stores.” People living in food deserts also face problems regarding specific food needs. Those with dietary restrictions, or people looking for ethnic food or ingredients, may be unable to find appropriate food.
While food deserts constitute major problems for many communities across the country, the good news is that we can work toward solutions. For one, government policy is a crucial method of change for these inequality issues. Additionally, however, there are projects that can help local communities directly—and on a much shorter time scale.
Food projects like local food markets and community gardens are an incredible means of increasing food access in food deserts. They provide fresh produce at affordable prices, and come with a host of other benefits for the community and gardeners themselves. Community gardens also allow for a broad range of choice in food, meaning that people can enjoy culturally relevant food that may be unavailable elsewhere.
Here at One New Humanity, we serve immigrant, refugee, and low-income communities in the Banglatown area of Detroit and Hamtramck. We run our very own community garden, named Sylhet Farm after the plentiful region of Bangladesh. In 2021 alone, we produced around 600lbs of fruits and vegetables that were distributed for free or very low cost to Banglatown residents at the Sylhet Farmers Market. This year, we’ve rented out 114 community garden plots, and we are so excited to see the amazing benefits our gardeners and community will reap!
Sylhet Farm and our other community initiatives like Sisterhood Fitness and the upcoming C. Love Bakery make an incredible impact on the lives of Banglatown residents. You can be part of that by donating now to support our work! If you’re in the Detroit area, consider dropping off in-kind donations, organizing a collection drive, or shopping at our nonprofit thrift store, Joy Thrift in Hamtramck! Together we can elevate our beautiful community, and bring joy and support to those who need it most.