Searching for an Oasis: Reimagining Food and Community in an Urban Food Desert

• In Event: 095 - Section on Community and Urban Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 19. Food Deserts and Urban Cultivation

Abstract

Many scholars have found that low-income communities and communities of color are far more likely to experience limited access to food than are wealthier and predominately white neighborhoods. Such areas of poor food access are frequently classified as “food deserts,” areas with few or no large grocery stores. In food deserts, residents who are already struggling financially must travel farther to find affordable food, or are constrained by limited variety, poor quality, and high prices of food within their own neighborhoods. Yet there is a lack of consensus on how we should measure and identify food deserts. Recently, some scholars have called for studies that incorporate the lived experiences of food desert residents themselves into the discussion.

We interviewed 42 low-income female caregivers of young children living in an urban area classified as a food desert about how they shop for food. The women we spoke with talked about their motivations for choosing stores, as well as their experiences dealing with poor food access and an unequal distribution of food stores. We found that women cited price as the strongest motivator for choosing a store, but found that a lack of transportation and SNAP participation also had significant effects on shopping behaviors. While residents were further frustrated by the closing of two nearby supermarkets during the study period, some also saw the closings as an opportunity to try an alternative type of food service in the community. This study underscores the importance of qualitative, participatory approaches to food environment research.

Authors

• Lillian MacNell, North Carolina State University

• Sarah Bowen, North Carolina State University

• Anne Hardison-Moody, North Carolina State University