What is a food desert? In the US it is often synonymous with inner city. It can be summarized as an area where it is difficult to purchase healthy foods because they are not locally available.
Food desert as defined by the fooddesert.net, "large and isolated geographic areas where mainstream grocery stores are absent or distant."
Food deserts as defined by Wikipedia, "a district with little or no access to foods needed to maintain a healthy diet but often served by plenty of fast food restaurants."
An excellent metric for defining a food desert can be found at fooddeserts.org
So the question becomes, "What can one do to address this problem?"
As one example, Cincinnati's food deserts represented graphically
(AP) - Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand [D-NY] proposed $1 billion in loans and grants Monday to help build 2,100 grocery stores in areas around the nation that lack access to fresh food.
Ms. Gillibrand said the measure would help about four million New York residents living in so-called “food deserts” by providing the funding for more than 350 stores statewide, many in low-income areas. Modeled on a similar program in Pennsylvania, the legislation would provide startup grants and loans in rural and urban areas to expand access to fresh food and to create jobs.
The Obama administration has already dedicated $345 million in his 2011 budget for a similar proposal.
Ms. Gillibrand said the measure would help fight obesity by making more fresh, healthy food available.
"By building new grocery stores in underserved areas across the state we can give people the opportunity to live longer, healthier lives, save billions in health care costs, and create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs," she said
Please visit the Food Trust website for more information and to get involved with their efforts to educate, lobby, and make healthy food available to everyone.