2. 1 Food Access Food Environments

Food Environments

While health promotion materials tend to emphasize the importance of individual food choices, access to healthy food is primarily determined by the social and built environments, including “community” and “consumer” nutrition environments. The community nutrition environment is determined by “the number, type, location and accessibility of food outlets such as grocery stores,” and the consumer nutrition environment is categorized by what “consumers encounter in and around places where they buy food, such as the availability, cost, and quality of healthful food choices.”^[1]1 Food environments are affected by both community and consumer nutrition environments.

The conditions of different food environments within neighbourhoods can have an impact on access to food for the residents that live there. Negative food environments are those in which healthy food access is limited or difficult due to lack of retail options, cost, transportation and mobility, and availability of culturally appropriate foods. They have been linked to communities whose demographics indicate they have a lower socio-economic status, as well as racial and ethnic disparities. These inequities in the food environment can be partially attributed to racial segregation in neighbourhoods. For example, certain neighbourhoods in the U.S. where residents are predominantly Hispanic and Black have less access to large, chain grocery stores, and more access to fast food.^[2]2 This is not always the case, as we sometimes see higher-income neighbourhoods without grocery stores and other nutritious food sources. The difference is that people living in higher-income communities typically have the money to purchase more expensive options close by, have vehicles to drive to buy food, and typically don’t have the same time constraints or accessibility issues as those in lower-income neighbourhoods.

There are currently four examples of food environments that appear in the literature: food deserts, food swamps, food mirages, and food oases. It is important to distinguish between these environments, given that different strategies are needed to mitigate the different risks in each³.^[3] Food deserts are areas of a city where residents lack physical and/or financial access to nutritious food. People living in rural areas may also need to travel long distances to get their food and are often left out of the food environment literature.^[4]4 In Canada, people are more likely to experience food swamps, areas that have nutritious food stores but also have an abundance of unhealthy options that are more accessible.^[5]5

Another food environment that is important to discuss is food mirages. In this case, healthful food options are available, but not affordable to those with low incomes, requiring them to travel long distances for access to affordable food.^[6]6 Food mirages differ from food deserts because it appears that the neighbourhood has healthful food options close by, but they are not actually usable resources for some members of the community (because they cannot afford to shop there). In addition to affordability, there are also other potential access issues for the residents of the neighbourhood. Food access is more than financial, as a household’s physical ability to get to and navigate the stores (e.g., because of disability or age) can restrict their access. Many also experience time poverty,^[7]7 for example, if they work several jobs, use public transit, or are the primary caregiver in their household; in these cases, the number of hours left in their day to acquire food is much less than in other households. Finally, a food oasis is a neighbourhood with superior access to nutritious foods.^[8]8

Table 1: Negative food environments and their characteristics (Young 2021)