Food Access and Sustainability
Learning Outcomes
After reading and discussing this text, students should be able to:
- Differentiate among the concepts of food deserts, food swamps, food mirages, and food oases.
- Articulate the differences between food environments in specific urban areas.
- Identify the barriers to food access—like transportation, income, and time—and the socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic disparities in food access.
Introduction
There are many factors that influence people’s access to food in a town or city. Some are specific individual barriers (e.g., income), but often there are larger structural issues (e.g., racism, discrimination, resource inequity). These barriers can be social, economic, or physical. To evaluate food access, it is important to be able to differentiate among the food environments that people belong to. Neighbourhoods struggling with food access within cities can be food deserts, food swamps, or food mirages. Those with superior access to food are considered food oases. The number and quality of healthful and affordable options for access to food in each neighbourhood determines which food environment the area belongs to. We differentiate between these environments because each problem is unique and requires specific solutions to improve food access. This chapter explores the different food environments in communities and how they affect access to food. It provides examples of work that has been done to mitigate these barriers to access in the city of Toronto, Ontario.
