The Contemporary Local Market Creating a Network of Food Distribution

摘要

During the United Nations' 1996 World Food Summit, the concept of "food security" was defined as existing "when all people, at all times, have physical, [social] and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food which meets their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life". In the United States, the Department of Agriculture, measures food security on four levels---high, marginal, low and very low, with income and access as two of the major factors contributing to the problem of food insecurity. The country is dotted with hundreds, if not thousands, of food deserts---rural, suburban and urban census tracts---wherein the inhabitants do not have access to fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthy whole foods. Today, 1 in 7 households, which equates to approximately 17.5 million households, are estimated to be food insecure. This thesis seeks to address the problem of food insecurity by creating a community-supported agricultural prototype in which nutritious foods are made accessible to an underprivileged neighborhood while debunking the beliefs surrounding the practices, processes, and sourcing associated with food production and distribution (e.g. "Farm to Shelf").