The Myth of the Food Desert: A Critical Look at a Misguided Movement
A New Yorker article reviews Hanna Garth's book "Food Justice Undone" and Kenneth Kolb's "Retail Inequality," questioning the effectiveness of the food desert concept. The term, popularized by Michelle Obama in 2010, defined areas with limited access to affordable nutritious food. However, research shows that bringing supermarkets to such neighborhoods does not significantly change eating habits. Garth's research in Los Angeles finds that residents want nicer stores but not necessarily to change their diets. The article traces the term's origins to 1990s UK policy and notes that politicians from both parties have used it, yet evidence of impact is weak. Alternative terms like "food swamp" and "food apartheid" have emerged. The piece concludes that distance matters less than taste and that the movement may reflect middle-class preferences rather than actual needs.
Key facts
- Michelle Obama used the term 'food desert' in a 2010 speech, citing 23.5 million Americans affected.
- The Obama Administration released an interactive food desert map in 2011, now the Food Access Research Atlas.
- Kenneth Kolb's 2019 book 'Retail Inequality' traces his shift from activist to skeptic.
- Hanna Garth's 2026 book 'Food Justice Undone' critiques the food desert movement as a 'white racial project'.
- A 2019 study found new supermarkets often siphon business from existing ones without changing diets.
- The term 'food desert' originated in the UK in the early 1990s from a Scottish public-housing tenant's comment.
- New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans to open five city-owned grocery stores to compete with existing supermarkets.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. unveiled an inverted food pyramid on Fox News in 2026, with meat at the top.
Entities
Institutions
- Fox News
- University of California
- Furman University
- Wall Street Journal
- New York Times
- Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics
- Vons
- Tesco
- Walmart
- Whole Foods
- Amazon Fresh
- Fine Fare
- Rebuild Los Angeles
Locations
- United States
- United Kingdom
- New York City
- Los Angeles
- Greenville
- South Carolina
- West Greenville
- Southernside
- East Harlem
- Manhattan
- Springfield
- Missouri
- Crenshaw Boulevard
- Beaumont
- Texas
- Colorado
- Florida
- London
- St. Louis