By Livia Navon
Although the concept of a food desert has been around for a while, it seems like these days, they are showing up more and more in public discourse. Michelle Obama’s recent ‘Let’s Move’ Campaign has highlighted the issue which might explain all the buzz.
So, what exactly is a food desert? The 2008 Farm Bill defined a food desert as an “area in the United States with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, particularly such an area composed of predominantly lower income neighborhoods and communities. ” But as a recent USDA report explains, a food desert is difficult to define in a straightforward and quantifiable way. One reason is that “nutritious” is a difficult concept. A candy bar has a lot of calories and thus, one could argue, offers a lot of nutritional value. But it probably does not fit most people’s idea of healthy.
Also, what is “limited access?” If you can take a bus to the grocery store, is that sufficient access? What if you have to take two buses and then walk? Some people complain about not being able to find a good cup of coffee in a certain area. Imagine if you could roam for miles without finding anything to eat or drink that wasn’t prepackaged or heavily processed.
The USDA report uses a distance of one mile from a grocery store as the definition for access. A figure from the report (above) shows the situation in the Washington, D.C. Metro area. The areas in dark outlines represent areas defined as low income. The circles represent areas that lie within a one-mile radius of a grocery store. Shading corresponds to the number of people living in the area. The darker the color, the higher the population.
Although some areas of Southeast DC meet the criteria of the report for being food deserts based on the report’s criteria, most of DC would appear to have adequate access to food. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take much for an area to become a food desert. For example, in Northeast DC, where the local Safeway recently closed down, there is another grocery store located within in a one mile radius. However, some residents expressed the desperation for groceries associated with living in a food desert.
Have you ever experienced a food desert? I’m sure you’ve been there. Maybe in a new part of the city, maybe somewhere else in the US on a road trip? You look around for a grocery store and can’t find one. All you can find are convenience stores or gas station stores that carry lots of snacks but no fruit or vegetables — in fact, nothing fresher than chocolate milk.
Perhaps knowing you are in a food desert is easier than defining one on the national level. What one person sees as good access to fresh food is different from what another person thinks is good access.
One thing is clear: Grocery stores with fresh produce are nowhere near as prevalent as coffee shops (ahem, Starbucks!) Luckily, recent efforts to increase access to fresh produce in the District like this farmer’s market in Ward 8 and this urban garden are working to fill in some of the gaps.
Hi there, D.C. Hunger Solutions and Social Compact did an analysis recently of grocery store locations across the District. The report looks not only at grocery store access (identifying areas with less access than the average for the city), but also highlights areas in which limited access coincides with poverty.
The report is available here: http://www.dchunger.org/pdf/grocerygap.pdf.
-Kristin Roberts, D.C. Hunger Solutions
I have read several reports about the food desert problem in low income communities. An example is the D.C Hunger solutions analysis on the “grocery gap” however none made specific comments about the root cause of the problem. why are there no grocery stores in such communities. Why did the Safeway shut down. Are there specific reasons why these stores are moving away from low income areas? From what I read residents in these areas would like to have access to fresh produce nearby and express their frustrations.