English 11 Olyvia G.

Harrian
Food Desert Research Paper December 2013

The Misconception Of Food Deserts
Many Americans have no idea that food deserts exist, let alone that they
could be one of the 23.5 million Americans that currently reside within one. If
surveyed, the average American consumer would probably not be able to define
what exactly a food desert is, but even worse, they have no idea that it is the
foundation for so many other problems that effect Americans on a day to day basis.
These issues include food stamp program controversies, food insecurity, and even
health issues that arise within these alternative categories. There is a scarce amount
of information available on this topic, and limited research/programs exist to try to
correct the current problems. America as a whole does not want to admit the ugly
truth behind it all; most of these issues can be solved simply by making better
choices and becoming better educated. The American public deserves to be
informed about these topics, because it affects such a vast amount of the population
in the United States. Many programs have been proposed in various communities,
but there is a very insufficient amount of them that have actually been followed
through. Proposing programs simply is not enough. It is a good start, a miniscule
step in the right direction, but what American citizens need is action to decrease the
amount of problems that arise within food deserts.
Food deserts can be described as geographic areas where residents access
to affordable, healthy food options (especially fresh fruits and vegetables) is
restricted or nonexistent due to the absence of grocery stores within convenient
traveling distance (Food Deserts). This also produces the other problem that if a
certain area only has access to convenience stores vs. actual super markets, then
those convenience stores are more apt to sell the non- healthy food because those
companies know that they are the only route that most consumers have. This is part
of the reason that the obesity rate in food desert areas is so high; Americans do not
have access to the nutrition that they need. They substitute fruits and vegetables for
sugary snacks and candies and it is causing a negative health epidemic. A food
desert is also described as a community in which residents must travel at least a
mile to buy fresh meat, dairy products, and vegetables (Or in rural areas more
than 10 miles) (In Depth). This leads to an even larger issue surrounding food
deserts. A majority of the population who live within food deserts have no way to
transport themselves to a supermarket to buy fresh produce. Unless they find some
sort of public transportation they are confined to the easily accessible convenience
stores, which typically do not carry a large amount of organic, healthy food items.
These conditions make it even more strenuous for the lower class Americans who
have certain diets they have to be on or certain foods that they either cannot live
without, or cannot eat at all. These conditions include Americans with diabetes,
someone who is lactose intolerant, someone who needs a gluten free diet, and so
many more. Living in a food desert with limited income makes it next to impossible
to provide for some of the American families dealing with these health conditions.
Do they acquire the foods that meet their needs, or do they provide less expensive
junk food, so their families do not go hungry? Which problem do they deal with?
Which disaster do they tackle first? These are difficult questions to answer, let alone
having to live life that way on a daily basis. There are food assistance programs that
attempt to aid in support for these families, but studies have shown that food stamp
programs may be doing more harm, than good. Obesity has many causes, but some
experts believe that the structure of [the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program] deserves some of the blame (Food Stamp Programs). The overall goal of
this system is valuable, attempting to alleviate some of the stress off of low income
families by providing assistance in buying food. However, they pay these families
once a month, all at one time. It compels them to splurge their money all at one visit
to the grocery store, and try to stock up on certain items. These items that are being
hoarded are the processed, inexpensive junk foods. If an American can buy a bag
of chips for a dollar, versus buying a fruit or vegetable that could be double even
triple the amount of chips, they are most definitely going to choose the bag of chips,
even if it is unhealthy. Another question that has risen within experts attempting to
research these topics are that, maybe it is not that they do not want to buy these
healthy foods, or healthy ingredients to make meals, maybe the issue is that they
have no idea how to cook or prepare one of these said meals. A lot of them have this
misconception that the healthy food is always more compensation, which is not
always the case. The other defining characteristic of food deserts is socio-economic:
that is, they are mostly found in communities of color and low income areas (where
many people do not have cars) (Food Deserts). Food deserts and all of the other
issues revolving around food deserts are mainly issues in lower class communities.
Although it can be a problem in cities or towns that do have higher income citizens,
but the conditions do not affect them because they have the money to travel and at
least attempt to get nutritious foods, the poor cannot. This same article goes on to
state that the wealthier districts on average have three times as many
supermarkets, opposed to the lower communities. What is worse is that white
neighborhoods statistically have four times as many supermarkets than black
communities do (Food Deserts). This brings about a new difficult series of
questions; does race play an issue with these circumstances? Are the articles being
stereotypical, or is it just statistically accurate that communities of color have a
larger percent of its occupants falling below the poverty line? Who exactly has
answers to these questions? As stated before these topics are often overlooked,
America and its occupants have this sense of pride; they do not want to admit that
there is a problem that is occurring, and many of the Americans in need of
assistance, or living in these conditions, do not want to admit that they are in need
of help. This is an issue that does not affect other parts of the world dealing with
these same issues, which makes the situation here more complicated, and more
difficult to deal with. The food desert situations are an issue of concern for the
United States right now, and will continue to be in the future. This is not something
that the government can sweep under the rug, and pretend like it is not happening.
This issue is current that a large number of Americans have become victims of. This
will continue to be an issue for a number of reasons. It is not something that can be
cured, or overturned in the matter of days; maybe it cannot even be completely
solved in a matter of years. One thing is for sure though, if America continues to not
educate its citizens about these current problems, and if it continues to do little to
nothing to help the cause, the issues with food deserts and the problems that
encompass it will only get worse from here. The government cannot continue to
have tunnel vision, and ignore the issue. It has to be dealt with head on, and with full
force. Conditions need to change, and the right choices need to be made.
While many programs have been proposed, and not been followed through
with, there has been a decent amount of small programs that have started to evolve
within communities and across the United States. One of the major attempts to help
this situation, and a more well-known course of action is the Lets Move!
campaign. First Lady Michelle Obamas Lets Move! campaign, which aims to
reduce childhood obesity, has taken a lead role in this effort (In Depth). In order
for this campaign to reduce childhood obesity in the United States, the first lady has
proposed a simple solution; open more nutrition based actual supermarkets within
food deserts across the country. She recently had a breakthrough when the
campaign was finally able to convince Wal-Mart, Supervalu, and Walgreens to
expand 1,500 grocery stores in food deserts (In Depth). This opens up a large
amount of opportunities for families living within said food deserts. This is giving
them the opportunity to have access to a supermarket with nutritional value behind
it, instead of having to always buy from a convenience store because it is the only
store that they have easy access to. While this may seem like a step in the right
direction, other critics do not share the same opinion. In fact, numerous amounts of
them believe that this proposal with these supermarkets will have little to no effect
on the way people choose to eat, or what Americans choose to provide for their
families. First of all, it is not easy to break a habit once one has become accustomed
to it, for example buying processed, inexpensive food from convenience stores,
rather than nutritious options from a supermarket. Second of all, just because these
people have a store that now bears nutritional value, does not mean that they can
afford to buy the products that are within the supermarket. What is even more
shocking, and places more confusion within the minds of critics and researchers, is
that even if these Americans could afford to buy a decent amount of food that is
healthy for them; would they choose that over the processed food that they
currently purchase? It is a hard question to answer because the 38 million people
who rely on food assistance programs every day, roughly one in eight Americans
(Food Stamp Programs), are all placed on these programs for a vast amount of
reasons. They are not all the same, which means that there is not one solution that
has the ability to fix all of the problems. Some have goals to eventually be taken off
of assistance; others could simply care less and continue to abuse the system. This is
where the differentiation of food purchasing trends comes into play. Yes, it is true
that many Americans on food stamps have unhealthy food habits, but that is not true
for all. The UNC study suggests using zoning laws to restrict the number of fast food
restaurants in low income neighborhoods (In Depth). This article also goes on to
explain that Los Angeles has experimented with the proposal of this law, and the
results were successful. They have now proposed that they make the zoning law
official, and carry it out not just for experimentation, but to benefit the whole city.
This course of action again is excellent, studies are moving consumers in the right
direction, however this law was only proposed in one city throughout the entire
United States. If more states and city councils knew about this study going on in Los
Angeles, it could potentially open the door to success for many other regions of the
US where food deserts are an issue. This all leads back to education. To put it simply,
there just are not enough people that know about these topics and what effects it is
having on the population. If more of this news was broadcasted, or posted in a more
popular area, then maybe United States officials dealing with these issues would
start to see even more of a positive incline in the direction in which they wish to
pursue. According to Vanderkam, the once a month disbursement of food stamps
should be changed to biweekly disbursement to prompt recipients to ration their
benefits and make better choices of purchased foods (Food Stamps Programs).
She believes that instead of giving the Americans on assistance programs just a
lump sum of cash all at one time, that it should be given periodically (twice a month)
in an attempt to prompt these people to make better choices and become healthier.
They simply do not see that conserving their stamp compensation to buy things
throughout the month, is more beneficial opposed to binging the first day that they
receive them and getting no nutritional value out of it. If they actually did choose to
purchase fresh fruits or vegetables or even a type of bread, those foods will spoil
before that month is up, and it is unlikely that those families will be able to consume
the food before it goes to waste. Additionally, having to go out to the market twice a
month instead of only once a month is going to potentially cost them more money
that they may not have. Nonetheless, it is a plan to be considered. Some people that
live within food deserts also use food pantries as a way to supply food for
themselves and their families (Food Stamp Programs). Food pantries are a huge
help to those struggling to make ends meet. They are copious, and almost anyone
can find one just as close as they could a convenient store, they do not have to go out
of their way to visit these food pantries. Communities collect food, and distribute it
out to the less fortunate. Many of the Americans struggling in these conditions find
food pantries to be very beneficial and helpful in their time of need. In addition to
selling fresh and organic fruits and vegetables, bulk whole grains and beans, and soy
based meat substitutes, some of these stores also offer cooking and nutrition classes
to educate public about making healthy food choices (Food Deserts). This is a
very positive attribute to food desert communities because it provides people with
information on how to stay healthy. It shows them how to cook and prepare food
that they can actually afford to buy, so that they will not be lumped into the group of
people who claim to have no choice over what they do or do not eat. All of the
programs or proposals that have been mentioned are again, leading America in the
right direction.
Some of these plans of action have been very effective and others of them
have not been as successful. Almost all of them would be even more successful if the
American public was simply educated about the situations and procedures that
currently exist. The Lets Move! campaign is a very commendable program. It is
setting up children for success because their primary goal is to gain control of
childhood obesity and other health related diseases. This campaign has a goal of
completely eradicating food deserts by 2017 (Food Deserts). This would be such
an accomplishment in America considering food deserts effect such a large group of
Americans. The government has made a $400 million investment in this campaign,
stating that if a supermarket is to open within a food desert, they will provide tax
breaks for said stores. This encourages supermarkets to open in food deserts, and
also benefiting the people by giving them a broader array of choices when it comes
to healthy food. The proposal of awarding food stamp participants biweekly instead
of monthly is just that; a proposal. No studies or experiments have been conducted
to see if this could be a positive gain to these residents. It is just something various
critics have proposed, no real action has been taken. If this proposal was to be put
on trial so to speak, it could go one of two ways. It could either crash and burn and
prove that the current program is working just fine, or it could potentially be part of
a breakthrough that researchers have been so desperately looking for. As of right
now the whole situation remains ineffective though, because as stated before, no
one has actually put it to a test, to see what kind of results would arise from it. Food
pantries, like Michelle Obamas campaign, are another positive, real program that
has come about. It is action being taken, not just activists or critics proposing
something. They have been very effective in a positive way providing free food for
Americans who are in need. However some problems have arose within these food
pantries. One being that there is not qualification criteria that one would have to fit
in order to receive help from these pantries, unlike food assistance programs. These
programs are supported by volunteers; they want it to be just as much a positive
experience for everyone as does the consumers. However certain individuals will
abuse the system, just like food stamps. Food pantries are meant for people who do
not really have other ways to get food for themselves and family members. When
someone who can provide for their family on their own, who just wants free food
attends, they are taking away what other Americans need to stay healthy. It has not
been a huge issue that these programs have had to deal with, but it does exist.
Offering cooking classes and nutritional lessons is also a great contribution (Food
Deserts). It shows Americans that are on assistance how to cook and prepare
nutritional meals, because previously they had no idea how to. This program
however is not popular, and is not seen on a day to day basis. There are programs
that exist like this, but they are not everywhere. They are also not available for
everyone to know about. They need to advertise and get support from the
government and other state or city officials in order to become a larger program so
that they can help several other Americans living with the same conditions day to
day. It is, however, very effective to the Americans who are able to use it. The zoning
laws that were used in Los Angeles also proved to be very effective through research
and studies. We have already attracted new sit down restaurants, full service
grocery stores, and healthy food alternatives (In Depth). The zoning law
continues to prove to be positively effective in Los Angeles through scenarios such
as the ones stated in the quote. They have contemplated making the area larger as
well, so more Americans can benefit from having the law. They have also imposed a
permanent zoning law because their results have been so successful. Jan Perry, city
councilwoman, commented about this program and stated Ultimately, this action is
about providing choices (In Depth). This is exactly what the laws chief goal is for
the American public; to create more positive choices.
The overall goal that needs to be achieved from these studies, and all of this
research, is moving America in a productive direction. The awareness needs to
spread; more Americans need to know what is going on in order to support the
cause. It is the only way that current efforts can continue to be successful and help
American citizens. Almost every person that resides in the United States knows, or
has heard of someone or a group of people suffering from conditions that go along
with food deserts. It could be a mother, father, brother, sister, cousin, niece, nephew,
friend, or ANYONE. Chances are that at some point in ones life; they will come in
contact, or at least know of someone dealing with these problems. These conditions
not only affect loved ones, or people in passing; they affect several people involved
with the individuals that are suffering. The solution is simple; become aware, and
make better choices. If everyone in the American public lived by this, there would be
a lot less problems. Do not be one the numerous Americans who are clueless about
the harsh conditions that surround them. Americans need to get educated, learn the
consequences, and start working as a whole towards a better tomorrow.












Works Cited Page

"Food Deserts." Food Empowerment Project. N.p., n.d. Web.
16 Dec. 2013.

Vanderkam, Laura. Food Stamp Programs Cause Obesity. Nutrition. David
Haugen and Susan Musser. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints.
Rpt. From Do Food Stamps Feed Obesity? USA Today 20 Apr. 2010. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.

In Depth Briefing: Americas Food Deserts. Is the Western Diet Making the
World Sick? Ed. Susan C. Hunnicutt. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2013. At Issue. Rpt.
From In Depth Briefing: Americas Food Deserts. The Week (12 Aug. 2011).
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.