What Is Food Apartheid?

How we analyze and reform our food systems begins with the language we use. Food apartheid is a concept that sheds light on the structures that limit access to affordable, nutrient-dense foods in low-income communities. It often pushes ultra-processed food with wasteful packaging that is not optimal for people or the planet. The term is often used in conversation with food desert, which refers to areas with limited access to supermarkets but does not imply the systemic issues that cause the low access.

In this article, we analyze these terms, the impacts of food apartheid, and how to achieve more just food systems that promote food sovereignty and sustainability.

Language Overview

When considering the origin of "food apartheid," sources commonly refer to a 2018 Guernica interview with Karen Washington, an activist and community organizer who popularized the term. Washington stated in the interview that the term “food desert” inaccurately represents neighborhoods that are not in close proximity to supermarkets with nutritious foods. This has been echoed in a blog by the National Resources Defense Council, which points out that “food desert” has been criticized for undermining the vibrancy of the neighborhoods and implying, with the use of “desert,” that these situations are naturally occurring.

On the contrary, food environments are built and designed unequally, with racial and economic factors to analyze, and “food apartheid” more accurately identifies the oppressive structures that created this inadequate access than “food desert.”

“[‘Food apartheid’] looks at the whole food system, along with race, geography, faith, and economics,” said Washington in the Guernica interview. “You say ‘food apartheid’ and you get to the root cause of some of the problems around the food system. It brings in hunger and poverty. It brings us to the more important question: What are some of the social inequalities that you see, and what are you doing to erase some of the injustices?”

In addition to characterizing inequitable food environments, the term “food apartheid” begins an intersectional conversation about race, policy, agriculture, and reform.

Impact of Food Apartheid

Neighborhoods not in close proximity to supermarkets with nutrient-dense whole foods may instead be surrounded by or contain fast-food restaurants and convenience stores. Areas in the United States with four or more corner stores within a quarter mile or with an imbalance ratio of unhealthy foods have been called food swamps—although, like food desert, this term has also been criticized for undermining the systemic problem.

The impacts of eating a diet of mostly processed foods have been well-documented, particularly obesity-related health problems. And the related preponderance of single-use packaging is bad for the planet. But those impacted by food apartheid—predominately low-income Black or other marginalized groups—do not have healthier, more sustainable options available to them. 

Examples of Food Apartheid

Much of the research conducted on food apartheid takes place in U.S. cities with substantial socioeconomic diversity. One study analyzed the food environments in Salt Lake City’s Westside areas, where most of the city’s immigrants and refugees reside. The researchers noted that reliance on the industrialized food system (Big Food, as they refer to it) is often presented as the only solution to food scarcity—an approach that does not address structural inequalities that create food apartheid.

Community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms, on the other hand, can not only expand food access but also bolster local food system resilience. The subject of the Salt Lake City study, Backyard Urban Gardens, promotes food justice by allowing “the farmers to operate the CSA despite not owning the land, which alleviates a significant barrier for localized agricultural operations.”

Indeed, addressing food apartheid begins with looking at documented examples and the community-based approaches people take to create more just food systems. An analysis of community food-growing spaces and demographics in Philadelphia, for example, found that not only are Black and low-income neighborhoods more impacted by low access to supermarkets but that these neighborhoods are more likely to have community gardens and urban farms where residents are actively resisting food apartheid.

What Can Be Done?

Food apartheid is an issue rooted in systemic racism that won't be solved by simply building more grocery stores. Likewise, Karen Washington and other activists have pointed out that while food banks and soup kitchens do their part in feeding the hungry, they are not investing in and solving the ongoing issue of hunger. Rather, charity systems, which should be "reserved for emergencies," have become normalized as a response to the nearly 34 million Americans who are food insecure.

Many of the measures that can be taken to address food apartheid—such as community gardening and urban agriculture—can also be seen as acts of environmental justice. At the community level, food justice organizations are committed to educating people on how to grow their own food. This empowers communities to not only organize their own food systems outside of the control of corporations but also to invest in local land and resources sustainably. Community gardening can also reduce food waste, help people eat more natural, whole foods, and strengthen people's sense of community.

Food environments in the U.S. and other countries are not invested in equally, which creates inequalities that lead to food apartheid in low-income areas. Creating more just systems begins with shifting the focus from food security to food sovereignty.