Food environment assessment

This week’s readings focused on assessing the food environment. I felt the Understanding and Measuring Food Environments reading summed up the readings very well. The chapter discussed the variety of food destinations such as supermarkets, local markets, convenience stores, and restaurants. The readings brought to the forefront the notion that not all food destinations are created equal. Some food destinations provide healthier options, while some may have no healthy options at all. Next, the chapter discusses spatial disparities in the food environment, pointing out that often times, healthy food is more easily accessed by wealthier populations, while low income areas tend to have fewer healthy food destinations in the immediate vicinity. The quality of food is also discussed in this chapter, which shows that just because food is available to a community, does not mean it is a healthy option. The chapter also discusses the idea that the food environment is linked with other environments. In this discussion, the point is made that lack of food destinations in a high income neighborhood is not as impactful as in a low income neighborhood.

The chapter then goes on to discuss the factors that should be considered when measuring the food environment. These factors are food environment indicators, such as availability of different food destinations; built environment indicators, such as public transportation availability or sidewalks for safe pedestrian travel; and vulnerability and disparity indicators such as age, ethnicity, and income.

The Pothukuchi article suggests that planners can make changes because we are linked to policy making, and we are able to analyze the spatial dimensions of the community, along with the needs of the community. I liked the idea of mapping the community food links.

The Thomson et al reading discussed the means by which planners could engage in the food community, focusing on media and community forums such as group meetings.