A number of different factors made “convenience” stand out the most as the core variable and principal story. Not only did convenience connect the most with other variables and become the prominent story told, it also became the most significant obstacle or issue in the process and activity of obtaining food. When performing the selective coding process, I was constantly thinking about what obstacles people may face in accessing t heir food. Again, as convenience seemed to be the most connected to other variables and the story that was told most often among participants, it was clearly the prominent variable affecting food purchase.
Convenience also seemed to encompass the other variables as well and these stories were prevalent throughout the interviews. For instance, other variables such as availability, finances, and transportation played a significant part in the participants’ overall ability to obtain food in their neighborhoods. It is inconvenient to not have enough money, a vehicle, and a nearby store at which to shop for foods, thereby it was clear that convenience was the principal story with the participants in the study. As noted by a few below, many adjust their personal schedule, routines, and budgets in order to purchase their foods.
M. Freeman: There just never seems to be enough time for me to go shopping. I get off work and have to pick up my son. Sometimes we go together, but sometimes he’s too much to handle. And if I don’t drive and have to take the train, I have to go to the store with him. And then takin’ all those groceries on the train…it’s just too much. I have to go when he’s not with me…and when is that? I can’t go when I’m working because…well, I’m working. I can’t go when he’s sleep…and I’m definitely not going to hire a babysitter just so I can go grocery shopping. I just have to suck it up and take him with me sometimes. I mean, we have to eat, right?
B. Owens: If I’m trying to get to the grocery store, I have to figure out when I can go while also working out my train schedule. I work second shift so it’s hard to get to work around the train and my job. I usually just end up at that Kroger on Cascade because it’s close. So even if I just need to get a couple of things, sometimes I can just walk. Walmart closes at 10:00pm and I am rushing to get there sometimes. I have tried to make it a couple of times but just can’t seem to do it, so I just stopped.
E. Byrom: Until I got my truck, it was hard. I had to wait for the buses and sometimes they would be late. Then the times when I knew I still had to get food, it was just hard. I couldn’t always go when I needed to go, mainly because it wasn’t really up to me. Now that I have my truck, it’s a lot more convenient. I can go whenever. I was only able to get my truck after I got a promotion at work. So even though I started making more money, that money goes to my truck payment.
E. Byrom continues to tell the story of now being able to drive to a store in a different part of the city in order to get his food, but he essentially still runs a bit short on the money to
purchase his groceries. Any extra money he obtained from his promotion and raise is now going to a more reliable form of transportation, which is needed to maintain his position. While his financial situation was helped in one way, it has not been eased enough for him to say he is comfortable in his socioeconomic status.
Others, such as D. Perry, still find it difficult to get to a store “in time.” Working various time does not afford him the freedom to go grocery shopping whenever he wants. He has to work around his own job schedule even more because of his shift -work.
D. Perry: I didn’t really pay attention to what was around me when I moved years ago. There really aren’t any grocery stores by me. If I want to get a lot of stuff, I have to go to Kroger over there on Moreland. There’s an Aldi there too. But I can’t always to that area or get there when the store is open. I work the third shift and sometimes I get overtime. I have no problem working overtime because I always need the money. So, if I can’t get to a grocery store because of my hours, oh well, I just grab a hamburger from some place.
These participants highlighted the varying ways a person can be inconvenienced when trying to obtain food: inconvenienced by time, transportation, location, and preference in how or with whom to shop. Participants have been quite resilient in their ability to access the necessary foods, not being as hindered by lack of major grocery stores and I initially thought they would be. As discussed in the next chapter, the fact that many participants do not access their foods closer to their home is helpful in overcoming the issues of living in a food desert; there are viable alternatives in place. The participants in this study were quite accustomed to having to navigate in a more creative way in order to get to the goods and services they
needed, therefore the negative aspects of food deserts do not seem to affect them as one might think, especially when viewing the situation from the outside.
6.7 Conclusion
As this chapter demonstrated, participants experience food deserts in different ways. Some had different views of foods and nourishment when a child is present versus not; people changed their shopping behavior according to who was in their household. Participants who had multiple people living in the household tended to have differing shopping habits than those who were single. This was either due to needing to provide or help provide for someone else, issues with finances, and also convenience overall. Some participants expressed the ease of living on their own and not having to worry about taking care of others, especially if they felt they could barely provide for themselves (whether in regard to finances or just overall
lifestyle). Participants who lived by themselves had more lax shopping and eating habits and were less concerned with having substantial amounts of food or being able to get to a grocery store compared to those having to feed a family or dependents.
While the variable of convenience became the principal story in what participants experience living in a food desert, this is does not discount the other variables in the study being just as important. One has to take into account the individual and circumstance. I coded convenience as the core variable to make sense of the various factors that came about from my qualitative analysis of interviews. Another group of 29 people studied by another researcher could produce stories with very different results. However, examining these experiences through a critical race perspective illustrates how influential a person’s social status and race contributes to their experiences, such as living in a food desert.
7 NAVIGATING FOOD DESERTS: ACTIVITY SPACES