food desert

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /fuːd ˈdɛzə(ɹ)t/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /fud ˈdɛzɚt/

• Audio (AU)

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• Hyphenation: food de‧sert

food desert (plural food deserts)

1. A populated region where food, especially healthy food, is difficult to obtain.
   • 2009 May 26, Steven Gray, “Can America's urban food deserts bloom?”, in Time‎, archived from the original on 28 January 2016:

     For years, major supermarket chains have been criticized for abandoning densely populated, largely black and Latino communities in cities like Detroit, Los Angeles, Memphis and Newark, N.J. — contributing to what many experts call food deserts.

   • 2011 August 12, “America's ‘food deserts’”, in The Week‎, archived from the original on 28 May 2016:

     More precisely, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines a food desert as any census district where at least 20 percent of the inhabitants are below the poverty line and 33 percent live over a mile from the nearest supermarket (or in rural areas, more than 10 miles).

   • 2012 October 5, Judy Valente, “Food Deserts”, in Religion & Ethics Newsweekly, PBS‎, archived from the original on 10 September 2016:

     New Orleans' Ninth Ward is what the U.S. Department of Agriculture calls a "food desert." Food deserts are communities with little or no access to healthy food.

• food desert on Wikipedia.Wikipedia