You might be living in a desert right now and not even know it. A food desert that is. In communities across the US there are wide swaths that are classified by the US Department of Agriculture as being barren wastelands when it comes to food. Thankfully there is an interactive map to help people determine where these sandy regions are located.
The USDA classifies any low income census area where at least a third of the population has no access to supermarkets within 1 mile as a food desert. Apparently bodegas and small neighborhood stores do not count though.
To find out if you are in a food desert click on over to the USDA’s interactive map.
One of the ideas behind identifying these areas is that there is thought to be a connection between health and access to healthy affordable food. Though this link has not been seen in any studies and if the link were established there are certainly other factors to consider.
Oddly, Canada and Mexico are completely free of food deserts. It is suspected that this is either the doing of dangerous drug cartels or dangerous socialist cartels. More study is needed.
Source: Mercury News / Photo: USDA
