STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

There is something special about growing one’s own food.  Like all things good, with great care and patience produce is born. This project focuses on raising awareness about the issue of food deserts, while also offering the start of a solution that involves the practice of gardening (personal or community/shared). The food activist Karen Washington refrains from saying “food deserts,” rather, she calls it “food apartheid” which is more specific to the situation when areas where minorities reside are targeted to lack the food resources/access needed. During my research about food deserts, it was something that appeared as a shock to me because I have not had the experience of not having access to fresh foods/produce me and my family need. Although I have experienced food insecurity in my life, the issue of living in a region where a food desert exists is outright terrible and inhumane.

In addition, Karen Washington makes a great point in regard to the correlation between the lack of access to fresh foods and the neighboring healthcare-related institutions/drug stores as well as major fast food restaurant chains. She states that 

“the healthcare industry is part of this conversation. As a physical therapist, I used to see billions more spent on treatment than prevention. Look at the pharmaceutical companies. In my neighborhood, there is a fast-food restaurant on every block, from Wendy’s to Kentucky Fried Chicken to Popeye’s to Little Caesar’s Pizza. Now drugstores are popping up on every corner, too. So you have the fast-food restaurants that of course cause the diet-related diseases, and you have the pharmaceutical companies there to fix it. They go hand in hand.”

Food deserts, food apartheid, is defined differently in rural areas versus urban areas: in a rural environment, a food desert exists when individuals live 10 or more miles from a grocery store or other locations where one can access produce and other healthy foods. In urban environments, if I remember correctly, this is defined by areas where there is a radius of more than a mile from access to fresh food locations.

CONTEXT

World hunger is always a topic that many who use that phrase associate it with nations outside the U.S. However, there is hunger occurring in our own nation. It would be wrong to compare the issue of hunger in the U.S. with third world countries, being that this nation is a first world country. People do not realize that hunger exists here too.

AUDIENCE

The audience for this topic consists of individuals who want to lead healthier lives, living in areas where there is a lack of access to fresh foods and would like to start their own personal or community garden (or find existing local resources and community gardens). The audience can also expand to individuals suffering with food insecurity.