Hunger

A situation in which someone cannot obtain an adequate amount of food, even if the shortage is not prolonged enough to cause health problems. (1)

Nutrition

Strictly speaking, the provision of the various food substances required to maintain life. In the broader context of humanitarian interventions, good nutrition is the result of adequate food security, health and care. It encompasses a diet of sufficient quantity and – particularly in the case of children – variety, as well as the availability of clean water and decent sanitation and hygiene. (2)

Food system

a complex web of activities involving the production, processing, transport, and consumption. Issues concerning the food system include the governance and economics of food production, its sustainability, the degree to which we waste food, how food production affects the natural environment and the impact of food on individual and population health. (3)

Food justice

Food justice is a holistic and structural view of the food system that sees healthy food as a human right and addresses structural barriers (such as institutional racism and economic inequality) to that right. (4)

Food access

Access by individuals to adequate resources for acquiring appropriate foods for a nutritious diet. (5)

Low food access designates limited access to healthy food as measured by the distance to and number of available grocery stores. Low vehicle access, low income, and lack of transportation also contribute to limited food access.

Low Income Low Access (LILA)

Term to define the proportion of the population in a certain census tract that are “Low Income Low Access” (more than a ½ mile from grocery store), which serves as a relevant indicator of food access. (6)

Food security

Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. To be food secure, a population, household or individual must have access to adequate food at all times. They should not risk losing access to food as a consequence of sudden shocks (e.g. an economic or climatic crisis) or cyclical events (e.g. seasonal food insecurity). The concept of stability can therefore refer to both the availability and access dimensions of food security. (7)

Food insecurity

Food insecurity is the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate, culturally acceptable, and safe foods. (8) 18.2% of residents in St. Louis City (56,780 people) experienced food insecurity in 2018. (9)

Food literacy

Understanding the impact of your food choices on your health, the environment, and our economy. (10)

Food desert*

A widely used term used to describe regions with limited access to supermarkets, supercenters, grocery stores, or other sources of healthy and affordable food. Accessibility is typically measured by distance to a store or the number of stores in an area that supply healthy food, as well as family income, vehicle availability, availability of public transportation, and average neighborhood income. (11)

Why we avoid the term “food desert”: The word “desert” implies a barren area devoid of life or people, which is simply not the reality. Neighborhoods often designated as “food deserts” have rich histories and vibrant communities that get erased by the term. Furthermore, a “desert” is a product of a natural ecosystem, while the situations that created inequitable food access were far from natural – they are products of intentional, systemic racism.

*Preferred: “food apartheid”, “food oppression”, or “low income low access neighborhood”

Food swamp*

Areas with a high-density of establishments selling high-calorie fast food and junk food, relative to healthier food options. (12)

Why we avoid the term “food swamp”: Like the term “food desert”, likening an under-resourced neighborhood to an element that supports our natural ecosystem turns a blind eye to the racist systems that produced it.

*Preferred: “food apartheid” or “low income low access neighborhood”

Food apartheid

According to activist Dara Cooper: “The systematic destruction of Black self determination to control our food (including land, resource theft and discrimination), a hyper-saturation of destructive foods and predatory marketing, and a blatantly discriminatory corporate controlled food system that results in our communities suffering from some of the highest rates of heart disease and diabetes of all times. Many tend to use the term “food desert,” however food apartheid is a much more accurate representation of the structural racialized inequities perpetuated through our current system.” (13)

Food sovereignty

“Food sovereignty is the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agriculture systems. It puts the aspirations and needs of those who produce, distribute and consume food at the heart of food systems and policies rather than the demands of markets and corporations.” – Declaration of Nyéléni, the first global forum on food sovereignty, Mali, 2007 (14)