Food desert in West Oakland

A food desert is an area, especially one with low-income residents, that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food. In contrast, an area with supermarkets or vegetable shops is termed a food oasis. The term food desert considers the type and quality of food available to the population, in addition to the number, nature, and size of food stores that are accessible. Food deserts are characterized by a lack of supermarkets which decreases residents’ access to fruits, vegetables and other whole foods. In 2010, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that 18 million Americans live in a food desert, meaning that they live more than one mile from a supermarket in urban or suburban areas, and more than 10 miles from a supermarket in rural areas. Food deserts lack whole food providers who supply fruits and vegetables, and instead provide processed, sugar and fat laden foods in convenience stores. Processed, sugar and fat laden foods are known contributors to the United States’ obesity epidemic.

By 1973, "desert" was ascribed to suburban areas lacking amenities important for community development. Cummins and Macintyre report that a resident of public housing in western Scotland supposedly invented the more specific term "food desert" in the early 1990s. The phrase was officially used for the first time in a 1995 document from a policy working group of the Low Income Project Team of the UK's Nutrition Task Force.

Initial research was narrowed to the impact of retail migration from the urban center. More recent studies explored the impact of food deserts in other geographic areas (e.g., rural and frontier) and among specific populations, like minorities and the elderly. They address the relationship between the quality (access and availability) of retail food environments, pricing and obesity. The findings support that environmental factors contribute to people's eating behaviors. Research conducted with variations in methods draws a more complete perspective of "multilevel influences of the retail food environment on eating behaviors (and risk of obesity)."

Researchers employ a variety of methods to assess food deserts including: directories and census data, focus groups, food store assessments, food use inventories, geographic information system (GIS) technology, interviews, questionnaires and surveys measuring consumers' food access perceptions. Differences in the definition of a food desert vary according to the:

The multitude of definitions which vary by country have fueled controversy over the existence of food deserts.

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