Food Deserts:Oakland, Ca
A comparison between Latino communities and Supermarkets
Oakland, California has had a long history of violence and poverty in the minority regions. Despise, these being concerning issues, there is another problem that arises in the health aspect. Data from the 2015 Census Projection (specifically on the Alameda County Latino population) and from Colbyc_UO Online (specifically on the number of grocery and super markets) from Oakland) were compared. It was noted that, areas with higher populations of Latinos did not have a high population of grocery stores.
What are food deserts?
The USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) defines a food dessert as parts of the country vapid of fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole foods, usually found in impoverished areas. This is largely due to a lack of grocery stores, farmers’ markets, and healthy food providers.
Why don't people just eat healthy?
The answer is not that simple....
- Fast food is often a more feasible otpion
- Most of the people are living in low-income areas and have jobs with long hours. Fast food is less time consuming when people are tired
- Grocery stores are far away and require transportation. Without a car or strong public transportation, low-income communities cannot consider this an option
Map with Oakland Statistics
I took data from Oakland's 2015 Latino population. As the legend suggests, the darker ares represent higher concentrations of Latino population. The faint black circles represent the supermarkets in Oakland.
More Supermarkets seem to be located in the areas that are non-predominantly Latino
Why is this a problem?
It is an environmentally racist issue.
This causation is evident in the specific locations of grocery stores, as stated in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine: “Studies have found that wealthy districts have three times as many supermarkets as poor ones do, that white neighborhoods contain an average of four times as many supermarkets as predominantly black ones do”
What can be done?
- There has been resilience within food gardens. For example, this organization; http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Rise_of_Food_Justice_in_West_Oakland
- Liquor stores can add fresh produce to their stores to promote make it accessible to low-income communities
Citations:
Images :
- Image 1:Arc GIS Story Map
- Image 2 :Business Insider
- Image 3:Tumblr https://alexrader7.tumblr.com/post/158327671359/the-cost-of-eating-healthy
- Image 4:Couyhoga County Board of Health https://www.ccbh.net/cuyahoga-county-supermarket-assessment/
- Image 5:10 Years Civil Eats https://civileats.com/2018/09/14/the-hidden-resilience-of-food-desert-neighborhoods/
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/d27f852d044a4e069768561e1b66f6f3
https://www.businessinsider.com/fresh-food-is-less-safe-than-you-think-2016-1
Quotes:
- USDA: http://americannutritionassociation.org/newsletter/usda-defines-food-deserts/
- Duke Green Classrooms: https://sites.duke.edu/lit290s-1_02_s2017/2017/03/04/health-and-socioeconomic-disparities-of-food-deserts/
- FOUND: http://www.foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Rise_of_Food_Justice_in_West_Oakland
- Food Deserts: Low Income Communities and their Lack of Adequate Nutrition : https://sophia.stkate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1034&context=msw_papers
Map:Arc GIS, Marlen Escobedo - https://arcg.is/1fu1WH0
