Food Deserts In America, Illustrated

Slate Labs :

A 2009 study by the Department of Agriculture found that 2.3 million households do not have access to a car and live more than a mile from a supermarket. Much of the public health debate over rising obesity rates has turned to these "food deserts," where convenience store fare is more accessible--and more expensive--than healthier options farther away. This map colors each county in America by the percentage of households in food deserts, according to the USDA's definition.

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Comments

[blytzd]

01:00 AM on 01/07/2011

Is that what they mean by Red states?

[mellene]

12:25 PM on 01/06/2011

Our country can pay billions in bonuses to hedge fund managers on Wall St. but can't manage to get grocery stores to people who don't have a car or a market within a mile of where they live. What kind of barbaric country are we finally living in? One of uber, uber rich and one of the impoverished. Notice how so many are in the deep red of the southeast where they all vote against their own interests.

[c-tom]

08:25 PM on 01/05/2011

After the last presidential election NYT printed a map showing the voting districts where the Republican vote had increased from 2004. The arc from SW of Pittsburgh through OK was narrower but very similar to the red/brown one on this map.

[uwritefunny]

09:53 AM on 01/05/2011

County level analysis isn't granular enough for this topic. Check out this methodology where they use population density and car ownership rate as determinants of how far each Census block group should travel to a supermarket: http://www.trfund.com/TRF-LAA-widget.html

Looks like the Brookings Institution used this methodology for their report on so-called "food deserts" - http://www.brookings.edu/opinions/2010/1019_supermarket_berube.aspx

[Donns]

07:28 AM on 01/05/2011

Where excatly do they paste the nutrition information labels on these tid bits?

[ramal]

02:49 AM on 01/05/2011

The fattest areas of the nation are the darkest on the chart indicating no close proximity to a grocery store. Perhap if the residents of these areas walked to the nearest store, two birds could be killed with the same stone?

[Robert Kachelriess]

12:59 AM on 01/05/2011

Seriously...Is everyone a f***ing victim now? This is America. Everyone can get an apple if they want to. I make a personal choice to eat healthy. Everyone else is welcome to do the same. And even if you are poor...you don't have to live in the middle of nowhere. Save a few pennies and hop on a bus. I applaud Michele Obama's efforts to take on the typical American diet. But this "Food Desert" stuff is nonsense.

[libnlandofthelost]

05:03 AM on 01/05/2011

Actually, its not nonsense. Within the last decade, I have lived in a county in Kentucky that had only one national chain grocery store that was " mini-store". I haven't seen that anywhere else. They only had certain departments, no butcher, and not much fresh produce.
The other two options were a co-op store with a lunch counter, and a convenience store attached to a gas station. This county covered 450 square miles.
I had to drive 23 miles away from home across the state line into Tennessee to buy regular groceries. I also was able to order pantry items off the net. I had a car, a computer, and a credit card.
I lost 45 lbs during the time I lived there, in part because there were no Starbucks Frapps to be had anywhere. While I am glad it worked out for me, that isn't typical. Michelle Obama can look at McCreary County KY to find all of the morbid obesity she needs to make her point.

[shiningstarra]

03:29 PM on 01/05/2011

Not everybody in a food desert lives in the middle of nowhere. Some actually live in urban areas. Inner cities are notorious for the lack of real grocery stores. Contrary to that old saying, you need more that an apple a day to maintain optimal health.

[Angelus2007]

05:24 PM on 01/05/2011

At least when I moved from NJ in 2006, there was not a single grocery store in Atlantic City and they have one of the fewest cars per capita.

[Edward Standley]

12:26 AM on 01/05/2011

Could public schools be used as local groceries? Students could learn a lot about running a business, provide needed good foods for their communities, and earn some money. Just a thought.

[svensven]

10:08 PM on 01/04/2011

And if you plot the locations of all expensive Whole Foods stores, the map is the complete opposite.

[Devontate]

10:03 PM on 01/04/2011

Wonder if this takes Farmer's Markets into account.

[GraceNotes]

04:52 PM on 01/04/2011

One could argue that for many of us, myself included, a one-mile walk would not do us any harm.

[shiningstarra]

05:24 PM on 01/04/2011

The criteria is to live more than one mile from the store; it could end up being several miles. Then you would have to walk back with your groceries

[stepheniegwen]

07:19 PM on 01/04/2011

And considering the abhorrent public transit in most of these areas, that's a considerable obstacle.

[blytzd]

01:02 AM on 01/07/2011

I walk two miles to college each day and the other students act like its crazy.

[pinkpoodle79]

02:49 PM on 01/04/2011

Interesting, but not surprising. There are multiple factors at work here. Fresh food costs more per calorie than junk food, and since the deep south and Appalachia tend to have higher poverty rates than other areas of the nation, it makes sense that people would settle for cheaper, less nutritious food. Furthermore, there's less investment in public education in those areas, and citizens have not been taught enough about healthy vs. unhealthy diets. I recognize that not ALL southerners have this problem, but the trends are clear. This is not the fault of supermarkets. If people demand fresh foods, then convenience stores would probably carry those items and supermarkets might locate in those markets. Even people in convenient locations with more disposable income don't demand fresh foods. People have to make smarter decisions and be more proactive.

[Ozark Homesteader]

04:22 PM on 01/04/2011

I live ten miles from a grocery store, and that one is best described as full of non-food. Half of the frozen vegetable section is taken up with fries--no joke. The bread aisle is almost all white flour. Asking doesn't get you anything. I tried. That's why we grow our own food.

[jmichaelmunger]

10:02 PM on 01/04/2011

I wouldn't say fresh food is more expensive, but that cheap/processed/corporate food is subsidized so much that it is cheaper.

[bllnsinchnge]

10:50 PM on 01/04/2011

exactamente

[KIVPossum]

02:39 PM on 01/04/2011

Welcome to corporate America. 50 years ago every neighborhood had a community grocery. Not the best selection, yet enough decents foods, including vegetables and meats, to keep the family going.

Now everything has to be a big box mega grocery.

[stepheniegwen]

07:21 PM on 01/04/2011

Not to mention real butchers! I heart butchers. Hate that prepackaged crap.

[ClearNSimple2012]

12:42 PM on 01/04/2011

Now this information has answered a lot of questions about the Tea Party Republicans who live in the rural south...Not enough fruits,veggies, and other healthy foods to help the brain develop! I hope the people who live in the darkened areas...are growing their own fruits and veggies! Not having the food groups on a regular basis can really have a negative effect on the body during the growth years!

[Ozark Homesteader]

04:24 PM on 01/04/2011

I really worry about the IQs of future generations. After all, we know that some children in developing countries experience decreases in IQs of 10-20 points from malnutrition. I'm afraid that the same thing is happening here. It's not the calories that count but the nutrients.

[Frickett]

12:36 PM on 01/04/2011

I wonder how closely those dark brown areas in the Southwest correspond to Indian Reservations...

[Ozark Homesteader]

04:24 PM on 01/04/2011

Very closely.

[JScott]

06:40 PM on 01/04/2011

Interestingly there are probably casinos on those reservations with lavish full of fresh food buffets.

[blytzd]

01:03 AM on 01/07/2011

It's a buffet, not that fresh.