Food desert.

I had an interesting experience last weekend while staying overnight in a hotel in Atlanta. I missed my connection and had to find a place to stay for the night. By the time I made it through the crowds and to my hotel it was 2 a.m. and I was STARVING. The hotel clerk informed me that unfortunately every restaurant (including the one at the hotel) was closed but that I could help myself to the mini-convenience store in the hotel that was open 24-hours. I walked into the store (which was really just a tiny room) and quickly realized that there was nothing healthy for me to eat. Everything was processed, packaged, and shining on the shelf in all of its glory. I carefully chose my selections:

While sitting in my hotel room eating lots of delicious empty calories, it suddenly hit me that this is the way people all over the U.S. live day-to-day. The mini hotel convenience store was my corner store, and I was in a small food desert. It was a humbling realization. While I could go home after this trip and walk to my local grocery store to get some fruits and vegetables, this lack of healthy options was a reality for many people on a daily basis. A reality that they could not avoid.

The Food Trust has developed a Corner Store Campaign as part of a movement to address the problem of food deserts in low income neighborhoods in Philadelphia. This is part of a larger campaign by the Healthy Corner Stores Network to change the landscape of food options within low-income and underserved populations nationwide. Noone should be faced with a lack of healthy options.