Over 23 million Americans, including 6.5 million children, live in low-income urban and rural neighborhoods that are more than a mile from a supermarket. Such areas with limited access to affordable and nutritious food are defined by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as “food deserts.” In Minneapolis, efforts are underway to shrink such deserts in the interest of healthier eating.

Annie Mae Jones, who has lived in North Minneapolis since 1963, remembers when her neighborhood had plenty of supermarkets. “They have been going away one by one [over the years],” she points out. “We used to have little corner stores” that provided the neighborhood with the type of intimacy and familiarity not often provided by today’s big-box superstores, adds Doloris Irwin, another longtime Northside resident.

TC Daily Planet