Food Desert Research Paper

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What comes to mind when you hear the words “food desert”? Do you imagine a barren land where tumbleweeds roll across parched and cracked soil and where cacti, like an actual desert, occasionally dot the landscape? Do you see vultures circling their poor, recently deceased prey spotted from cloudless skies, a land seemingly desolate of life and resources? Contrary to what you may think, food deserts refer to areas lacking access to nutritious and affordable food, the term first being used in the early 1990s in Scotland (Wright et al.). These food “deserts” can be actual deserts, rural places in the middle of nowhere where the nearest supermarket is hours away, or neighborhoods within big “developed” cities. Although food deserts can populate just about …show more content…
Sometimes, I change my mind about what I do/do not want to add depending on how my essay/paper is going, so I did add an additional source by the CDC about obesity and another by PBS covering community/urban gardens in D.C. while writing. Poverty is a hard cycle to break out of, especially when some are already set up with many disadvantages and challenges from the start. Similarly to the world-wide issue of poverty, food deserts are a complex problem with far-reaching consequences. Limited access to healthy and affordable food choices can create a significant barrier to healthy living and higher quality of life, trapping residents in a cycle of poor health, food insecurity, and financial hardship, particularly for residents from low-income households in urban areas. Of course, food deserts aren’t the only reason why people live in poverty. There are many different factors that can explain why people are poor and why they struggle so much, and unfortunately, there really aren’t any definite solutions to these problems. There are incentives to try and assist those in
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