Food Desert is a term I had only heard in passing and this reading has shed some light on the topic. They define a food desert as "an area with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, particularly such an area composed of predominately lower income neighborhoods and communities". This is something I would like to think would not be an issue in today's society but, unfortunately this is not the case. What upsets me more is that ties it has to race. Redlining was a major issue throughout the 20th century and it appears as though this is still a lesser known issue to this day. While the term itself is not exclusive to race, it has been heavily associated with it as minorities seemed to deal with it the most. Why must the people who actually need money be denied the assistance? Why do rich people need more money? What are they going to do with it? This redlining has caused a shift in the food accessible to areas. The healthier food was left out in areas where the more fortunate could access it due to how costly healthier foods can get. This leaves the crappier food to the people that are less fortunate. How are people supposed to live on fast food and food that has little to no nutritional benefits? If anything this just causes more issues and brings other problems into the picture. If people continue to not receive the nutrition they need, they are likely to end up being sick more often. This would cause medical bills to pile up, causing even more financial problems. On top of that redlining enough people distress that entire areas/towns begin to get stuck in an endless loop ruining the ability for urban areas to improve. I know this is a random side track but this is an endless cycle of issues which may not originate at food, but food definitely plays a role in the issue. These financial burdens are coming from everywhere and are affecting so many peoples lives. In an age where we have a cornucopia of information at our fingertips, one should expect that there would be less problems like this and more good coming from the world.
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1 comment:
I really like how you mentioned the endless cycle that low-income communities face as a result of extremely limited access to healthy foods. While reading the article, I was thinking about the physical health issues that could result from either a lack of or surplus of certain nutrients, but I never really thought about the implications beyond this. In your post, you mention the fact that this unhealthy diet will inevitably lead to higher rates of medical issues which will pile onto the already extensive list of financial problems. Unemployment rates in these areas are fairly high, so people who experience these medical emergencies probably don't have health insurance, making it near impossible if not impossible to pay off medical bills, trapping them in an endless cycle of debt, even further limiting their access to nutritious food options. It's a very difficult cycle to watch unfold.
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