“Michelin Star Consumers”
There are a limited number of restaurants awarded this label in the world and are also more expensive to purchase a meal at. Some customers fly to an area specifically to have a Michelin dining experience, making this an exclusive way to buy and consume food.
“Whole Foods Consumers”
Next we have those with the income and accessibility to shop at grocery stores with healthy food choices but at a cost. Whole Foods (the grocery store) in the US has aisles of powdered mushrooms and superfoods along with organically grown produce, meat, etc. However, as one can see in the image above, Whole Foods is not accessible to everyone in the U.S. due to both its location and price, imposing limitations on possible customers. In Spain, it could be compared to a Sanchez Romero supermercado although the comparison is not perfect. In other countries, such as Nigeria, luxury supermarkets are not well recognized.
“Walmart Consumers”
Larger supermarkets that are more populous and have cheaper prices are more accessible for a larger number of food consumers. The food may not be as high in quality as that sold in a luxury supermarket, but it is more affordable. In Spain, Walmart’s food section could be compared to a Día supermercado. In Nigeria, their chain supermarket system is not very developed, with their more infamous chain Shoprite only available in 13 cities; with this being said, it is crucial to note that much of the country (33%) is cultivated land, with small farms producing at least 80% of the food. Therefore, local food markets and stores in Nigeria could be compared as an equivalent to Walmart produce, and those who buy food in this manner could be placed into this category. One critical difference between the population of consumers who eat food from a Walmart and from local produce is the quality of the food. Originally, I created this category with the mindset that these consumers do not have easy access to “healthier” foods due to various factors, with income standing as a main inhibitor. As I place the Nigerian citizens who mainly shop at local markets here into the “Walmart Consumer” group, it is crucial to note that their limited ability to shop at a store like Whole Foods does not necessarily limit their ability to eat a healthy diet. The danger here would concern local production— droughts, floods, any environmental occurrences that can negatively impact availability of local food production.
“Food Desert Consumers”
U.S. food deserts are generally defined as areas where healthy food is not at all available to the community. Instead, driving around streets in food deserts you will find liquor stores and fast food options. As previously stated, Nigeria has a lot of fresh food being actively produced, so a simple lack of grocery stores would not be a proper definition for this category in relation to Nigeria. In this text, then, a food desert consumer is an individual who does not have “easy” access to “healthy” food wherever it is they live. “Easy” in the sense that it would take a lot of time and effort to reach a place that sells meats and produce, and “healthy” in the sense that the food is fresher and will have a more beneficial impact on one’s physical health.
I am over the word limit, so instead of going into the connection of food to physical health and life expectancy, I will stop here. Resources I used and extra notes for class discussion are below:
Connection to health/ extra notes:
Just as the washing machine gives people the chance to fulfill other areas of their life such as educating themselves, being in a place where you are not concerned about getting healthy food allows you to:
Avoid debilitating health conditions such as Type II diabetes, obesity, Kwashiorkor, chronic heart disease, etc
Function better cognitively
Have a boosted mood and motivation to develop other areas of your life as well (EX: you feel stronger mentally, so you decide to start a business or enroll in college)
Income and accessibility directly contribute to where people can shop- at wholefoods, fly to a michelin star, eat at McDonalds because that’s the closest thing to them, etc
New York City’s lowest income neighborhoods. Similarly, disparities exist in diabetes prevalence rates; 5% of adults living in the Upper East Side neighborhood report a diabetes diagnosis, compared with 10–15% of adults living in East and Central Harlem and North and Central Brooklyn
Obviously, this information comes from stats in the US, but there are so many more scientific articles discussing the direct impact of food on health
Therefore, if a community is reliant on local fresh food like Nigeria, they will most likely not show the same results even though I place them in the food desert. But what this does mean is that if something were to happen to local produce (ex: lack of rain), then the people could be in trouble and suffer other health conditions
The study found that people in the eastern Louisville lived as much as 12.6 years longer than some of their neighbors in northwestern areas. 12.6 YEARS LONGER. Like let that sink in.
https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2011/december/data-feature-mapping-food-deserts-in-the-u-s/
https://studentwork.prattsi.org/blog/2022/07/18/walmart-locations-in-the-us/
https://www.businessofbusiness.com/articles/breaking-whole-foods-likes-rich-people/
https://guide.michelin.com/us/en/restaurants
https://nwtnlfn.org/2021/02/26/the-local-food-system-in-nigeria/
Measuring food deserts in New York City’s low-income neighborhoods. Cynthia Gordon, Marnie Purciel-Hill, Nirupa R. Ghai, Leslie Kaufman, Regina Graham, Gretchen Van Wye. 27 May 2010.
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