tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9437268.post3530778481963921722..comments2024-02-03T07:12:06.620-05:00Comments on U.S. Food Policy: Systematic thinking about food desertsusfoodpolicyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17098394318544229984noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9437268.post-22316821502395334712008-11-19T11:59:00.000-05:002008-11-19T11:59:00.000-05:00I think a great way to differentiate between rich ...I think a great way to differentiate between rich and poor neighborhoods in terms of access to food (and other resources) would be to map the area around the neighborhood that residents typically travel. This would help to capture the culture differences between the neighborhoods. An indicator of actual time spent within the boundaries of the neighborhood would also be useful. This would help to demonstrate that even though richer, suburban neighborhoods often do not have any access to food within the boundaries of the neighborhood there is no access issue because most of the residents spend a large portion of their time outside of the neighborhood. Conversely a large number of residents in many lower-income urban neighborhoods spend much of their time in and in the area immediately surrounding the neighborhood. I’ve gotten a bit ramblie here but I hope you understand what I’m saying about using aggregate statistics showing the distance an average resident of a particular neighborhood travels outside of the neighborhood on a daily basis and the average amount of time the average resident spends outside of the boundaries of his/her neighborhood. I’m thinking in my head: a map of the neighborhood with a circle drawn around it to show how far residents travel and the circle shaded in, darker indicating more time spend outside of the neighborhood. I would suspect that in lower-income areas the circle would small and shaded lightly and in upper-income areas the circle would be large and dark. Then look at the availability of food within the circle to determine the ‘food-desertieness’ of the neighborhood. These statistics would prove to create a difficult surveying project indeed; however, I think could be used as a useful tool to show the difference between low and high income areas.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15797586111171809119noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9437268.post-77717942089122912332008-10-08T15:52:00.000-04:002008-10-08T15:52:00.000-04:00The fruit stands and small markets in San Francisc...The fruit stands and small markets in San Francisco usually also stock some staples like rice and tortillas and beans. Personally, I would not consider a neighborhood that had such a fruit stand to be a "food desert".<BR/><BR/>You're right to be thinking this through in this way. I guess it would come down to your goals. If your goal is to provide "ready access to affordable fresh food", a fruit stand might disqualify a neighborhood as a food desert - but a high-end market instead would not.<BR/><BR/>On the other hand, if your goal is to provide "ready access to a wide variety of foods", a grocery store might be the only thing that would satisfy the criterion.<BR/><BR/>Then there are cultural differences. A supermarket that provides dairy products and flour, but no tofu or rice might be inadequate for a neighborhood with a high Asian population. One with a wide variety of breads but no tortillas might be inadequate for a neighborhood with a high Latino population. Fortunately, most businesses cater to their customers, so I'd think that kind of situation would be unlikely to occur - except in the case of the upscale market that is designed to cater to a small segment of the local population.<BR/><BR/>For me, the criteria would be similar to the first one I named: "ready access to affordable fresh food and staples". <BR/><BR/>But I'm making the huge assumption there that people in every neighborhood are willing and able to cook from scratch every night. If your goal is "ready access to easy-to-prepare food", a place that sells only frozen pizzas might trump the fruit stand.Rebecca Bloodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04088576089288213016noreply@blogger.com