Fast food can be familiar however, in low-income regions, it can be a challenge to find healthier options
I am a researcher studying Food security in California’s Central Valley, which is paradoxically one of the largest agricultural regions anywhere in the world. Food security is the ability to maintain an uninterrupted, reliable availability of foods. It is a time-consuming process and requires resources, which are often in short supply in families that are food insecure.
Many residents of Central Valley, which is a food-rich area, experience a high level of deprivation of their food. They depend more on prepared and fast food to sustain themselves and provide comfort in comparison to the general population.
The strong connection between people’s love of fast-food chains and their inability to access fresh food causes a downward spiral. Fast-food chains that corporations own undermine food security by limiting local control over the production of food. The result is that a weak local level of control on food production causes food insecurity. In the present, as COVID-19 has altered routines in such a way, I see an opportunity to stop the cycle.
Cars gathered on the 18th of April,2020, in order to collect food items provided by the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Mario Tama/Getty Images
Fast-food restaurants are referred to as “third places.’
People form emotionally strong bonds with locations that they go back to time and time again. Research indicates that these bonds extend beyond gardening, agricultural practices, and hunting or cooking.
People also make bonds with the restaurants they frequent. Restaurants may function as “third places,” a term invented by sociologist Ray Oldenburg that describes places that are safe for conversations and social interaction. Gardens for community or areas of culture are typically third places. Oldenburg created this notion from “first places” and “second places” to explain the places where people feel comfortable or a sense of security away from the home or at work.
Fast-food restaurants also serve as third-party places. Older adults often socialize and relax in these places. The atmosphere in restaurants has evolved beyond being convenient and fast to cozy and warm, offering amenities such as complimentary wifi for those who want to sit and relax. It’s the Starbucks barista who is familiar with your name that keeps a lot of customers returning for single-shot espressos or group gatherings.
Fast food is essential for those who are food insecure.
Food-insecure families are having difficulty purchasing fresh vegetables and fruits at high prices relative to household budgets. Insufficient time and resources to prepare meals preparation is also a factor in food insecurity as well as the racial divide along with poverty.
Because of all these reasons, a lot of low-income and food-insecure families rely on fast-food restaurants. Fast food can be valuable to those who can buy lots of food for the cost, but it might cost more than fresh produce.
In the world, households with a single parent are most likely affected by the effects of food security. Single parents are also more likely to have multiple jobs and face time limitations on the preparation of meals at home. Students, disabled people, and older people are usually left without the space to prepare meals at home and are forced to rely on fast food or pre-cooked meals.
South Memphis, Tenn., is a food desert that is dominated by fast food outlets along with convenience stores.
Food insecurity within the state of California’s Central Valley
In the fall of 2019 and the spring of 2020, researchers from graduate research assistants, as well as I, conducted a survey of undergraduate students at The University of California, Merced, about food security and attachment to food restaurants. A lot of U.S. undergraduate students are always unable to eat due to a variety of reasons, such as time and resource constraints.
