
Fresh Food Access in Urban Areas
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How easy is it to find fresh fruits and vegetables in your neighborhood? Some areas have many fast food restaurants and convenience stores but few grocery stores. Researchers call these areas food deserts.
You visit food stores in an urban area and note what percentage of their inventory is fresh produce. Then you survey residents about how often they eat fresh food and how hard it is to get. You repeat the same steps in a non-urban area.
Compare the two communities to see whether store access matches actual eating habits.
Hypothesis
The hypothesis is that there are more grocery stores in urban areas than in non-urban areas.
Method & Materials
You will select a commercial area within an urban community, visit the food establishments located in the selected area, determine the availability of fresh fruit and vegetables, approximate what percentage of the total store inventory is devoted to fresh foods versus processed foods, and survey residents. You will also repeat these steps with a non-urban community.
You will need a survey, a notepad, internet access, and transportation.
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See what’s includedResults
The results of the two communities were compared in respects of the availability of fresh foods and consumption of fresh foods. The observation that stands out is that there are more grocery stores in urban areas than in non-urban areas.
Why do this project?
This science project is interesting because it challenges the concept of food deserts and investigates the validity of the existence of food deserts.
Also Consider
Variations of this project include surveying residents about their dietary habits and investigating the distance between grocery stores.
Full project details
Additional information and source material for this project are available below.Related videos
These videos explain the science behind this project and demonstrate key concepts used in the experiment.
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