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Throughout the world there are all different types of social justice issues that are happening in many countries, that involve food. A major place in the USA, that this is occurring in is in Philadelphia, PA. In Philadelphia there are many different things that are happening but one major issue that they have are food deserts. This is affecting a lot of people who live in the urban area, that have low incomes and don’t have access to healthy food; It means that people are not getting the nutritious food that they need to survive. In recent years, there are people and groups that are trying to help these communities. They are trying to help these people by planting food forests, which can lead to people getting the food that they need, and they …show more content…
are also trying to get supermarkets being opened. The main question that people should ask themselves are: What are food deserts?
Food deserts low income areas, where people don’t have access to healthy and fresh foods for them to; in most of these areas there are no local stores or supermarket. Not having these things really affects the health of the people in these communities. In the article ‘The Origins of the Food Desert: Urban Inequality as Infrastructural Exclusion’ they state that these are, “Places without supermarkets—what many call “food deserts”—lack affordable fresh fruits and vegetables, as remaining corner stores are unable to procure and preserve wide varieties of fresh foods” (Deener). This shows that even though there may be some places to get food in these areas, there are only corner stores that do not provide the right types of food or there are fast food places. The places that aren’t there but need to be are supermarkets and places for people to get food that is healthier, than the food that they are already eating. These food deserts can lead to people’s health being affected badly; they may end up with weight issues, diabetes and other serious issues that can affect them in the long run. Food deserts came to be in the 1950’s-60’s when supermarkets became a “suburban phenonium”, this was not good for corner stores in the cities; it then leads to the corner stores in the cities failing, which then lead to the start of the food deserts. Over the past couple of years people and groups have been trying …show more content…
to come together to help the people that are living in these food deserts, in all different types of ways. There are many ways that people are trying to help people that live in these food deserts. One way that people are trying to help these communities are by planting food forests. An article on the website ‘Next City’ defines that, “A food forest is a permaculture, or self-sufficient, gardening technique that mimics a woodland ecosystem, and they’re popping up in cities all over the United States. Rather than neat rows of annual crops that need to be dug up and replanted each spring, a food forest has layers of mostly perennial edible and medicinal plants” (Kinney). These forests are not like most community gardens because they have an open-door policy. This means that anyone can come into the forest, pick their own food, and get it for cheap or even free. People will be able to get the food that they need easily and do not have to pay a lot of money for fresh and health food. The author also brings up that, “That means the model can be especially friendly to low-income families, who may not have the time or money to regularly maintain their own community garden plot, which can involve paying membership dues in addition to buying seeds and tools” (Kinney). This shows that these forests are friendly to lower income families and allows them to be involved with it any way they can from help out to paying a little bit of money to support it. Overall these food forests will be a big help to those that are living in the urban areas of the city because they will provide people with food and give them a place where they can all come together. Another way that people are trying to help with the food deserts in the city are by getting grocery stores opened, in those areas. These places are helping the communities by providing people with the healthy food that they need and allows them to have more options on the foods that they eat. The article How Supermarkets Can (Really) Solve The Food Desert Problem, talks about many things involving food deserts, one thing that they bring up are solutions; they bring up that, “ The New Jersey based nonprofit organization Uplift Solutions, for example, offers a holistic pathway for supermarkets to progress from simple food availability to healthier choices, changes in habit and improved nutrition”(Casey). This shows that supermarkets are a big part in helping end food deserts. There are many ways that they can be started, the best option that people have found is by getting support through nonprofit organization. They will help people and lead a pathway for supermarkets to become successful and grow in the types of foods that they will sell. An example of a store that has been successful in a low-income area since 2004, is one of the Brown Super Stores. One thing that the owner of this store Jeff Brown brings up in this article is that, "Before we did anything, we brought together a group of community leaders, and we just asked them to tell us exactly what it is they were looking for in a neighborhood grocery store."(Singh). This shows that he was successful compared to other stores is because he reached out to the community and asked them what they were looking for in a store; not what he wanted to put their but what the community wanted. In the end, supermarkets can be a successful way in ending food deserts, but for them to succeed the people that are the owners of these stores, the community and everyone in between all have to come and work together for it to happen. One way that I believe that people can help with ending food deserts, are through food recovery networks; are networks run by college students.
Food recovery is “rescuing surplus food that would otherwise be wasted and giving it to hunger-fighting partner agencies” (FRN). This means that college students are gathering good and still edible foods from their cafeterias at their schools, that would otherwise, would have been thrown away and instead giving it to those that need food. There are so many colleges in the Philadelphia area that are a part of these networks, helps a lot of people that need the food. One college that has become apart of this movement is Cabrini University, which was started in the spring of 2017. The main thing that this chapter does is collect all the extra soup every day from Tuesday-Saturday, freeze it, and send it places near the school and in Philly where people need food. Since the chapter has started at the school, they have collected more than 3,700 pound of soup, is equal to about 2,800 meal. This shows that colleges really want to help those that need food, such as this that live in food deserts, they push save the good food that could be thrown out. Even though it is all not fresh food, it is way better than eating fast food or food that is bad for someone in
general. In the end food desert are affecting a lot of people that live in low income areas in Philadelphia, around the country, and the world. It makes it hard for people to get the nutritious food that they need and to be healthy. There are people out there that are trying to help fix this through food forests and by building supermarkets where they can buy this food. Also, there are colleges that want to help people that need food, by having food recovery networks. All these things can lead to people being able to have access to healthy foods and will also make them happier and healthier.
Many in the U.S., today, try to eat well,balanced, meals to order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. They do so by purchasing their food at farmers markets or making their own meals, so their food isn’t processed or genetically modified. Even though people are trying to maintain health in order to live long lives, without medical complications, many don’t have the opportunity to pursue life like this. In “Research shows food deserts more abundant in minority neighborhoods,” the author, Kelly Brooks, portrays an anecdote and logical reasoning, from Kelly Bower’s research, to thoroughly describe the food deserts in poor minority neighborhoods and how this issue needs to be repaired.
Cities are becoming more proactive about dealing with food deserts, mainly by giving tax breaks, as in Baltimore, to grocers that are willing to come to low-income, desertous areas. Pushes from environmental groups are also taking an impact on the cause, as the fight for healthy food has become a hot topic in that arena as well. Communities themselves are also taking a stand against food deserts, by doing their own growing of food and creating urban farms, starting up community markets, and starting programs to bring fresh food to deserts (Block, Chavez, Allen, & Ramirez,
Alviola IV, Rodolfo M. Nayga Jr., and Michael Thomsen to learn more about what food deserts and how they impact the society around them. I believed that this was a good source because it went into what food deserts are and how they might be connected to the increase of obesity. I learned that a food desert is an “area where access to healthy foods is limited or constrained” (Alviola 106). I also learned that studies have shown people who live in food deserts “are likely to pay higher prices for food and have limited options in terms of purchasing healthy foods” (Alviola 106). After reading this article I have realized that Xavier may also be in a food desert because the closest grocery store is Kroger whose produce is almost always non-fresh and does not look edible to eat which encourages people to leave and resort to eating fast food for every meal. Needing more information about the effects of Food Deserts I started to look at an article called, “The Effects of Food Deserts on the Weight Status of South Dakota Children”, written by Emily Niswanger, Elizabeth Droke, Suzanne Stluka, and Kuo-Liang Chang. I believed that this was a great next source to look into because the name of the article was exactly what I wanted to get more information about. The source was about one study that was made in the state of South Dakota to discover if food deserts do have an effect on
Because the people who live in food deserts do not get proper supplements of fruits and vegetable, much of their diets are consisted of mainly junk food, fast food, and meats. As a result of this, today, more than one third of adults in America are obese. In addition to obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease can also be results of a lack of healthy food choices, which result from people buying their food from convenience stores that only sell processed foods and from fast food restaurants. This paper attempts to provide readers with a better understanding of the fact that not only do food deserts exists, they are threatening the lives of Amer...
Food deserts are places where healthy foods are not produced nor sold. Unfortunately, Chicago is filled with food deserts. Approximately 600,000 people reside in areas that consist of food deserts (Gallagher, 2006). Nearly 200,000 of those people are children. These children do not have the opportunity for healthier options, which shows an increase in obesity rates (News One Staff, 2011). There are 77 Chicago communities and out of that 77, 23 are food deserts (Gallagher, 2006). Chicagoans-particularly the black communities- are forced to live off the accessible food that is near them. The food deserts are in Austin, North Lawndale, Armour Square, Near South Side, Fuller Park, Grand Boulevard, Washington Park, Woodlawn, West Lawn, Chicago Lawn, Englewood, Ashburn, Auburn Gresham, Beverly, Washington Heights, Morgan Park, Roseland, Pullman, South Deering, Riverdale, South Chicago, and West Pullman (Grossinger, 2007). The communities are usually served by junk food- filled corner stores, which do not offer an abundance of healthy foods. The communities are in desperate need of change.
Shaw, H. J. (2006), Food Deserts: Towards the Development of a Classification. Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography, 88: 231–247.
Nutritionism and Today’s Diet Nutritionism is the ideology that the nutritional value of a food is the sum of all its individual nutrients, vitamins, and other components. In the book, “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan, he critiques scientists and government recommendations about their nutritional advice. Pollan presents a strong case pointing out the many flaws and problems that have risen over the years of following scientific studies and government related warnings on the proper amount of nutrients needed for a healthy diet. Pollan’s main point is introducing science into our food system has had more of a negative impact than a positive one, we should go back to eating more of a traditional diet. I believe food science has given us
“Food Deserts” are arears where people have a hard time finding affordable, healthy food. These places are usually low-income neighborhoods that do not have any supermarkets nearby but have convenience stores that sell junk food and fast food places around them. Ron Finley, a guerrilla gardener, lives in a “food desert” in South Central Los Angeles. He plants fruit and vegetable gardens to help nourish his community with healthy eating. In the article “Giving the Poor Easy Access to Healthy Food Doesn’t Mean They’ll Buy It,” Margot Sanger-Katz states that “merely adding a grocery store to a poor neighborhood doesn’t make a very big difference” because the diets of the residents living in those neighborhoods did not change. I think “food deserts” are only a part of the bigger problem in America because obesity is everywhere, not just in low-income
Michael Pollan makes arguments concerning the eating habits of the average American. Pollan suggests, in spite of our cultural norms, we should simply “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly Plants.”
For example, with Erika Nicole from the article No Myth Here: Food Stamps, Food Deserts, And Food scarcity, said “ Poor urban neighborhood in America are often food desert.” What she says that food deserts are in areas where money isn't the thing they have most and being able to afford a car may not be an option. With urban area people not having an income to afford a car, they happen to go to closer areas to get their food like liquor store, fast food joints, etc. Also, having to take a huge amount of food on the bus will be very difficult to even dangerous because of the chance of being
“Food Deserts” as defined by the CDC, are “areas that lack access to affordable fruits, vegetables, whole grains, low-fat milk, and other foods that make up the full range of a healthy diet” (Center for Disease Control and Prevention). In simpler terms, a food desert is a community with little to no grocery stores. Many reports show that neighborhoods with less access to neighborhood grocery stores have a higher risk for obesity and unhealthy diets unlike neighborhoods where residents have better access to neighborhood grocery stores. The “USDA estimates that 23.5 million people, including 6.5 million children, live in low-income areas that are than one mile from a supermarket. Of the 23.5 million, 11.5 million are low-income individuals in households with incomes at or below 200 percent of the poverty line. Of the 2.3 million people living in low-income rural areas that ...
American citizens economic standing plays a role in the what foods they buy, where they buy, and their accessibility to buy. According to the United States Department of Agriculture an estimated twenty-three and a half million people live in a “food desert”. which is an urban or rural community that has little to no access to fresh food distributors such as a supermarket or farmers market. A lot of times these communities only food options are convenience stores and fast food restaurants, such as McDonalds and 7-Eleven, that...
A food desert is a location in which a wide variety of nutrition food is not generally available (Wrigley et al. 261). Food deserts exist in places such as inner cities and isolated rural areas (Morton and Blanchard 1). The purpose of the paper supported by this annotated bibliography is to argue that food deserts do not exist because of discrimination against the poor, but because of forces related to supply and demand. This hypothesis ought to be kept in mind when considering each of the sources (Just and Wansink; Wrigley, Warm and Margetts; Jetter and Cassady; Epstein et al.; Schafft, Jensen and Hinrichs; Bitler and Haider) described in the annotated bibliography.
America is a capitalist society. It should come to a surprise when we live like this daily. We work for profit. We’ll buy either for pleasure or to sell later for profit. It should come to no surprise that our food is made the same way because we are what we eat. We are capitalist that eat a capitalist meal. So we must question our politics. Is our government system to blame for accepting and encouraging monopolies?
Foods from Africa, which have impacted North American cuisine are numerous, and common in the everyday eating habits of Americans. In the 21st century, Americans take for granted the history of the food they eat, and the origins of the foods that are eaten today. In the early part of the history of the United States, people of European descent brought recipes from home and adapted their recipes to the ingredients which were available. The slave trade was directly responsible for what many Americans think of as American food, and those foods are traceable to Africa. Because slaves incorporated their own foods into the everyday lives of their masters, some of the unique foods from Africa and their history are not well known today. American