Solutions to Food Desserts in American Cities
- Public Health 360
- Apr 28
- 3 min read
Written By: Wilfred Schneider
Rethinking Food Desserts
Food deserts are defined on a Google Search as pockets of cities where residents lack
access to affordable, healthy, and reliable food often due to geographic disparities in the
locations of food sources, low income levels, or a lack of transportation. Typically, these areas are inhabited by low-income families as well as racial and ethnic minorities. However, this definition is somewhat misleading, as widespread misconceptions exist about how they form and why they occur. From this definition, it would be reasonable for one to conclude that simply opening supermarkets in these areas would be a simple, effective solution. By contrast, existing literature gives evidence that this isn’t the case. An example of this comes from James D. Wright, Distinguished Research Professor at the Department of Sociology at the University of Central Florida, and his colleagues who reviewed multiple studies that have attempted to measure the impact of newly opened supermarkets in communities previously designated as food deserts. These studies tracked various health metrics throughout the community such as obesity rates, BMI, fruit intake, and vegetable intake. No significant differences were found following the opening of these new grocery stores in these metrics. This begs the question of what is really causing these health metrics to be worse in urban areas designated as “food deserts” and what can be done to ameliorate nutrition in these places.
Education Gaps and Their Impact on Nutritional Choices
One common aspect of low-income communities in the United States is that they lag
behind more affluent communities in education. According to Ann Owens, Professor of
Sociology at UCLA, “Children from advantaged families accumulate additional resources in
segregated places because their families can access the most advantaged contexts" (18). Due
to these opportunities that high-income children have and low-income children lack, an
achievement gap begins at an early age and widens throughout middle and high school. As a
result, kids living in lower-income areas are less likely to attend university and higher-level
education than kids from higher-income neighborhoods. In short, a lack of education exists in low-income American communities. These people are uneducated about a number of issues, one of which is likely nutrition. As a result, these people are unaware of the fact that their current dietary choices are suboptimal and could result in negative long-term health outcomes. Even when presented with healthy food at an accessible location, these people are unlikely to begin to eat healthier because they lack education on the benefits of healthy food.
Cultural Influences on Diet and Barriers to Change
Furthermore, for many individuals living in areas classified as food deserts, cultural
customs and norms may discourage them from suddenly reducing intake of certain unhealthy foods. According to Sisitha Jayasinghe, Nuala M. Byrne, and Andrew P. Hills of the College of Health and Medicine at the University of Tasmania, “the shared values, beliefs, and attitudes that characterize a group of people are often influenced by their food choices, the context of their meals, and the company that they keep” (23). It is important to understand that this isn’t targeted at any particular group of people, and food has been an essential component of human culture since its beginning. However, this does indicate that education about healthy food must begin early in life for children and occur outside the household. Cultural practices and norms within households may serve as barriers to adopting these practices, although early education has the potential to counteract them. For policymakers, it is important to understand that food deserts are more than just a geographical issue, and interventions backed by evidence in our education systems are necessary.
References:
Owens, A. (2018). Income Segregation between School Districts and Inequality in Students’ Achievement. Sociology of Education, 91(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040717741180
Sisitha Jayasinghe, Nuala M. Byrne, Andrew P. Hills, Cultural influences on dietary choices, Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, Volume 90,2025, Pages 22-26, ISSN 0033-0620,
Wright, J. D., Donley, A. M., Gualtieri, M. C., & Strickhouser, S. M. (2016). Food deserts: What is the problem? What is the solution? Society, 53(2), 171–181.
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