Food Desert Research Paper

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One of the big problems in Baltimore is the amount of food deserts that exist. According to the Baltimore City website, a food desert is defined as an area where the distance to a supermarket is more than a quarter mile, the median household income is at or below 185% of the Federal Poverty Level, over 40% of households have no vehicle available, and the average Healthy Food Availability Index score for supermarkets, convenience and corner stores is low. 20% of Baltimore’s residents live in food deserts, and over 33% of the neighborhoods in Baltimore are located in a food desert. About 23% of school children in Baltimore live in a food desert, which is a serious problem. These conditions lead to obesity, which is a growing problem in the US.…show more content…
Their meals, while sometimes do come from fast food restaurants and other establishments like that, can be cooked at home and made with the fresh ingredients that have been bought at the store. Children that live in food deserts do not have this option. Their parents cannot get to a grocery store to purchase fresh food, which means that the children’s only option for food is a high fat, high calorie meal from a McDonalds or whatever fast food place is close by. The sad thing is, this is what a child in a food desert is most likely to eat as a meal for all three of their meals. While there may be a variety in the types of food that children eat for meals in a food desert, the basics of the meals are pretty similar; unhealthy, especially if eaten consistently. As we have seen in the film, ‘Supersize Me’, too much of this food can lead to multiple health…show more content…
Living in a food desert, children do not have much of a choice on what to eat, and what they can choose to eat is almost always unhealthy. Most children learn their eating habits when they grow up, so growing up in a food desert would certainly force a bad habit upon these children. They would end up choosing the unhealthy options that they have grown up with their entire lives, because they would not know any better. Having not grown up with the option to eat fresh fruits and vegetables or with the ingredients to cook and prepare fresh food at home, these children would have missed out on the healthier choices that would have better for them. Even worse, this childhood would most likely be repeated on their children, even if they do not live in food deserts. Basically, this could keep on going on and on all because of the bad choices that one youth was faced with growing up in a food

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