ABSTRACT
Research on the nature and extent of urban food insecurity in British and North American cities has led to the notion of ‘urban food deserts’ to describe economically and socially-deprived inner-city areas (Besharov et al. 2010; GhoshDastidar et al. 2014; Gordon et al. 2011; Jiao et al. 2012; Martin et al. 2014; Walker et al. 2010; Wrigley 2002). One of the early definitions from this body of work described urban food deserts as ‘areas of relative exclusion where people experience physical and economic barriers to accessing healthy food’ (Cummins and Macintyre 2002: 436). In practice, the whole idea of the food desert has become integrally connected to the spatial behaviour of the supermarkets that dominate the urban food system in European and North American cities (Apparicio et al. 2007; Guy et al. 2004; Larsen and Gilliland 2008; Russell and Heidkamp 2011). Where supermarkets are present, it is suggested, consumers are able to make healthier food choices because of the variety and quality of fresh produce. When they are not, as in many low-income and deprived areas of cities, diets tend to be less varied and lead to poor health outcomes.
