By Irene Lewis
When I was in college, I lived closer to three different chemical plants than I did to a single grocery store. To regularly get healthy, fresh fruits and vegetables into my diet, I had to drive nearly 20 minutes. To my friends from rural communities, this was commonplace. However, living in the capital city of Louisiana, it’s hard to understand why this is the case.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines food deserts as “areas in the United States with limited access to affordable and nutritious food, particularly such an area composed of predominantly lower-income communities.”
Urban food deserts tend to be neighborhoods where there is no grocery store within a one-mile radius, or where many members of the community do not have personal vehicles and have to rely on public transportation — if that is available. For some with the privilege of living near grocery stores, this idea is often hard to fathom. However, there are hundreds of large cities across the country where people simply do not have access to healthy and affordable fresh produce.