I’ve heard this term a couple of time but never actually looked into it, and it is such an alien concept to me right now. I apologise in advance for sounding dumb here.
I can understand slums and favelas having a harder time getting access to fresh food, but how come entire government-recognised and incorporated neighbourhoods with electricity, water and all those more complex services can’t have small grocery stores for basic healthy things like rice?
One encouraging trend I’ve been noticing lately is immigrant communities moving into poor neighborhoods and setting up ethnic groceries in low-rent buildings or lots . Because immigrant communities tend to concentrate in areas, that guarantees a market for what would otherwise be a niche product. Then other poor US-born neighbors start shopping at those stores simply because they’re local and sometimes even walkable.