food desert

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

an urban or rural area in which residents have limited or no access to affordable, nutritious food — particularly fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and proteins — typically because supermarkets and full-service grocery stores are absent or inaccessible while fast food outlets and convenience stores that sell primarily processed, calorically dense, nutritionally poor products are abundant; food deserts disproportionately affect low-income communities and communities of colour in the United States, where decades of supermarket redlining and suburban retail development have concentrated food infrastructure outside the reach of car-free residents in inner cities and rural areas; researchers debate the definition, with some arguing that food swamps — areas flooded with unhealthy options — are a more accurate description of the problem than mere absence of grocery stores; food desert status is linked to higher rates of obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and diet-related disease