this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2023
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Many communities have no grocery stores nearby. Those that are there are often understaffed. Meanwhile, dollar stores and McDonald’s are everywhere. Amerikkkan car culture and Suburbia has concentrated stores often like half an hour outside the city. If you don’t have a car it’s not accessible. Few want to carry a bunch of bags of groceries on a bus for an hour (if they have the transportation infrastructure). Healthy grocery stores like Whole Foods don’t want to go into poor communities because they can get more money from those who can afford the higher prices they want to charge. As these problems disproportionately affect non-white people, some have opted to call it “food apartheid” rather than desert as the latter suggests it’s natural.
I’m no expert, but as a USian who’s heard a bit about it I thought I’d comment. I can’t think of any further reading.
What is stopping people from turning empty lots in those poor communities into small food-growing plots or growing chickens? Is it some kind of regulation? Some fruits are very easy to grow and iirc they're expensive in there, so I can't see how there'd be a lack of incentive for plant-only shops. I've seen even places with lawns in some videos about food deserts, and one could definitely grow some orange trees or a couple chickens in those and even supplement income that way by selling to neighbours.
One encouraging trend I've been noticing lately is immigrant communities moving into poor neighborhoods and setting up ethnic groceries in low-rent buildings or lots . Because immigrant communities tend to concentrate in areas, that guarantees a market for what would otherwise be a niche product. Then other poor US-born neighbors start shopping at those stores simply because they're local and sometimes even walkable.