6 ms·

I always get a chuckle about people saying area in cities are food deserts. A food desert is somewhere you can't get delivery, tacos from a taco truck, or a piz

by KGIII 9y ago

I always get a chuckle about people saying area in cities are food deserts. A food desert is somewhere you can't get delivery, tacos from a taco truck, or a pizza from anywhere but a convenience store. Nunavut is a food desert. Pickle Lake is a food desert. I live in a food desert. If it is ten blocks to a Safeway, it's not a food desert. If you can call and get delivery from three different types of ethnic food, it's not a food desert. Even where I live, 25 miles from a grocery store, there are all sorts of choices. I have a whole wilderness full of game and have pretty much finished harvesting my garden. I've been in cities around the globe, and the only ones I've seen that are worthy of the title are hugely impoverished and probably not far from a war zone. I have seen poor people in cities who can't afford much food, however.

allenz 9y ago
Food deserts don't apply to people who are well off. A food desert is a place where healthy food is much more costly and less accessible than junk food, which is true in most slum areas. Poor people generally can't afford delivery. As we reduce the number of people affected by famine, food deserts become an increasingly significant driver of health disparities between rich and poor.
- dx034 9y ago
  Products tend to be more expensive if they're rarely sold (esp perishable items). That you don't find healthy food in some rural areas in the US is not because supermarkets have no means of getting them there, it's because they'd not sell much. Asking supermarkets to stock items they'd have to throw away is questionable from an ethical standpoint.
  - allenz 9y ago
    Yes, sadly, junk food is more tasty and more convenient. It's a problem in cities and rural areas alike. There's lots of room for creative solutions without going communist. I support a tax on junk food and a subsidy on healthy food. Aside from that, governments and communities can collaborate to educate people about the benefits of healthy food, hold workshops on easy and tasty cooking, put together good financing deals for community-based markets offering fresh and local food, encourage community gardens, set up healthy food trucks, etc. We can help by voting, volunteering, or working for a social venture.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
Spooky23 9y ago
I grew up in a place like you. The difference is that you have a car. I live in a small city now. I’m a quick drive or walk (10 blocks) to a small grocery store with limited selection and higher prices that mostly caters to students. Most shopping gets done in supermarkets outside the city... 10m car ride or 30 minute bus ride. From the inner city area, that’s usually a 90 minute bus ride that runs every 45 minutes. Poor people don’t work 9-5, so they buy most food at bodegas at inflated prices. Stuff like produce is rarely available, unless Kure lucky to be near a Chinese market.
- KGIII 9y ago
  Yeah, that's a food inconvenience and certainly a problem. It seems not very desert-like, at all. It sucks, but it's not fight a hyena for your breakfast suckage. It's not pretend to like fermented fish desert sucks It's not like the delivery plane can only land every four months suck. It's hardly a desert.
  - nkrisc 9y ago
    But you're just applying your own, personal definition and not the definition that everyone else uses.
    - KGIII 9y ago
      Sure, but then desert already carries certain connotations. Living on the wrong side of MLK Drive in Atlanta probably sucks, that's a given. If orange juice is priced like a luxury good, it might be a food desert.
  - objectivetruth 9y ago
    Your comment makes it sound like it's only an "inconvenience" as long as the poor people aren't literally fighting animals for food, and their supply chain is replenished at least quarterly. Here's the definition that most of the rest of us use: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/documentation/ https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-... The "convenience" factor in modern civilized society is compared to a baseline of "suburban parent hops in the car, drives 5 minutes to a well-stocked and affordable grocery store with plenty of nutritious options" and NOT compared to "prehistoric hunter-gatherers on the verge of starvation."

by KGIII 9y ago

allenz 9y ago

Food deserts don't apply to people who are well off. A food desert is a place where healthy food is much more costly and less accessible than junk food, which is true in most slum areas. Poor people generally can't afford delivery. As we reduce the number of people affected by famine, food deserts become an increasingly significant driver of health disparities between rich and poor.

dx034 9y ago
Products tend to be more expensive if they're rarely sold (esp perishable items). That you don't find healthy food in some rural areas in the US is not because supermarkets have no means of getting them there, it's because they'd not sell much. Asking supermarkets to stock items they'd have to throw away is questionable from an ethical standpoint.
- allenz 9y ago
  Yes, sadly, junk food is more tasty and more convenient. It's a problem in cities and rural areas alike. There's lots of room for creative solutions without going communist. I support a tax on junk food and a subsidy on healthy food. Aside from that, governments and communities can collaborate to educate people about the benefits of healthy food, hold workshops on easy and tasty cooking, put together good financing deals for community-based markets offering fresh and local food, encourage community gardens, set up healthy food trucks, etc. We can help by voting, volunteering, or working for a social venture.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]

Spooky23 9y ago

I grew up in a place like you. The difference is that you have a car. I live in a small city now. I’m a quick drive or walk (10 blocks) to a small grocery store with limited selection and higher prices that mostly caters to students. Most shopping gets done in supermarkets outside the city... 10m car ride or 30 minute bus ride. From the inner city area, that’s usually a 90 minute bus ride that runs every 45 minutes. Poor people don’t work 9-5, so they buy most food at bodegas at inflated prices. Stuff like produce is rarely available, unless Kure lucky to be near a Chinese market.

KGIII 9y ago
Yeah, that's a food inconvenience and certainly a problem. It seems not very desert-like, at all. It sucks, but it's not fight a hyena for your breakfast suckage. It's not pretend to like fermented fish desert sucks It's not like the delivery plane can only land every four months suck. It's hardly a desert.
- nkrisc 9y ago
  But you're just applying your own, personal definition and not the definition that everyone else uses.
  - KGIII 9y ago
    Sure, but then desert already carries certain connotations. Living on the wrong side of MLK Drive in Atlanta probably sucks, that's a given. If orange juice is priced like a luxury good, it might be a food desert.
- objectivetruth 9y ago
  Your comment makes it sound like it's only an "inconvenience" as long as the poor people aren't literally fighting animals for food, and their supply chain is replenished at least quarterly. Here's the definition that most of the rest of us use: https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-atlas/documentation/ https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/food-access-research-... The "convenience" factor in modern civilized society is compared to a baseline of "suburban parent hops in the car, drives 5 minutes to a well-stocked and affordable grocery store with plenty of nutritious options" and NOT compared to "prehistoric hunter-gatherers on the verge of starvation."