ABSTRACT
This chapter explores some basic questions and deconstructs some of the discourse related to differences in food access. The concept of food desert emerged in the early 1990s, when the UK government was alerted to concerns about social and geographical exclusion with respect to services of all kinds, raising the spectre of inequality and poor health. The search for the origins of and solutions to food deserts, as well as evidence of their existence, has led researchers, citizens and policy-makers down a variety of often contradictory paths. It has directed attention to the fact that food access, a consumer issue, is closely tied to the supply side of the food system, with the related influences of governance and urban planning. Successful strategies included increasing supermarket size, greater control within the food supply chain and consolidation within the food industry. Strategies for cutting costs included lower wages for workers, partially through low-skilled labour.
