TITLE:
From Food Desert to Food Mirage: Race, Social Class, and Food Shopping in a Gentrifying Neighborhood
AUTHORS:
Daniel Monroe Sullivan
KEYWORDS:
Food Access; Food Desert; Food Mirage; Social Exclusion; Gentrification; Neighborhoods; Race; Social Class
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Applied Sociology,
Vol.4 No.1,
January
23,
2014
ABSTRACT: New supermarkets in previous “food deserts” can benefit residents by
improving their access to healthful, affordable food. But in gentrifying
neighborhoods characterized by the inflow of middle-class, white residents and
the outflow of working class, minorities, who benefits from a new supermarket
that emphasizes organic food and environmental sustainability? This paper
contributes to the food access literature by examining the food shopping
behavior of diverse residents by using survey data and probability sampling in
the Alberta neighborhood in Portland, Oregon (USA). Regression results show
that college-educated (62%) and white residents (60%) are much more likely to
shop there weekly, regardless of age, gender, owner-renter status, distance
from supermarket, or length of time living in the neighborhood. These findings indicate that supermarkets that promote
healthy living and environmental sustainability need to be sensitive to the
racial “symbolic boundaries” and socioeconomic barriers that may create “food mirages” by limiting
food access to poor and minority residents.