The issue of food deserts has been a source of interest in the United States for a while now, invoking the interests of policy makers and leaders in general. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), over 24 million Americans live in areas considered food deserts. Food deserts are urban areas that suffer from a shortage of access points for foods; the USDA classifies the populations living more than a mile away from a supermarket as living in food deserts (Howerton & Trauger, 2017). The implications of living in such areas as illustrated by research include increased incidences of chronic diseases such as diabetes and malnutrition, and obesity. The article by Sarah Corapi for PBS News titled "Why It Takes More Than a Grocery Store to Eliminate a Food Deserts” demonstrates why the current policy of attempting to rid the country of food deserts by incentivizing supermarkets to move into these areas is not necessarily solving the issue of proper dieting. This rhetorical analysis of the article is based on the premise that the article’s author presents a very informative article that properly reiterates the message that opening up more stores is not sufficient to shift public perceptions on healthier food habits.
Summary
The article by Corapi begins by illustrating just how big the food desert issue has been in the United States by giving the story of Michelle Obama’s activities towards the eradication of food deserts through her Let’s Move! initiative. Corapi then goes on to explain to the reader what exactly the issue is all about, which is the need to look at how food deserts affect the issue of diet in the country, and why solving the issue of food deserts can assist in solving the problem of dieting in the country. According to the article, people living in food desert areas are at a higher risk of chronic diseases and obesity due to the lack of diverse foods to enable dieting (Corapi, 2014). Furthermore, the research shows that the areas where food deserts exist are also often low income areas, with Howerton and Trauger (2017) showing that these areas also tend to be areas habited by racial minority groups. Therefore, as a way of bringing diversity of foods and increasing equality in the country, U.S. policy has shifted towards the introduction of incentives that enable supermarkets to open in such areas. However, as Caropi (2014) states, “the problem may not lie solely with food accessibility; it could also be due to people’s shopping and eating habits.” She illustrates this point by incorporating the contributions of Professor Steven Cummins, who is a professor of population health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Professor Cummins backs up the claim with scientific research and data. Corapi’s article however centers on the need for better dieting amongst Americans as a way of reducing chronic diseases and obesity, and not just about dealing with food deserts.
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Analysis
The article by Corapi states that the effectiveness of the U.S. government policy to eradicate food deserts as a way of improving dieting and combating challenges such as obesity is limited. She accomplishes backs up this claim by making use of two major rhetorical strategies or devices; the ethos and the logos rhetorical devices. The ethos or ethical device majors on using credibility to back up its claims, which is what the author seeks to accomplish by incorporating the input of a professor who not only has a background in this field, but also has carried out research into this specific case. The logos or logical device is accomplished through the authors use of data and statistics, mainly obtained from Professor Cummins, but also from the USDA, to back up any claims that the article makes and thus show the reader that indeed there is a gap in the accomplishments of the Federal government and local governments policies with regards to this matter.
Apart from the aforementioned key areas identifying the use of these two devices, there are subtle areas within the article they are used, especially the logical rhetoric. For example, the author questions Professor Cummins in a very structured manner. Her first question to him is what they background of the situation, as well as current policies regarding this matter are, to which the professor gives a breakdown of what food deserts are and what the national and local governments are doing to fix the issue. By beginning with defining food deserts, and illustrating why this is a problem for the nation, Corapi is able to logically show the reader why they should care. This is as opposed to if she had started her questioning by asking him about the research he and his colleagues had carried out and what they had discovered from the research. In turn, this question comes almost at the end of her questions, just before she asks what the best way forward is regarding solving the dieting issue.
The use of logic is also visible in the styling of Corapi’s article. She begins with Michelle Obama’s quote that “Our goal is ambitions. It is to eliminate food deserts in America completely in seven years” (Corapi, 2014). This statement raises the reader’s attention because of the person quoted above, as well as the subject matter. The question that comes to mind after reading this quote is what food deserts are, and why the matter to the extent of involving the First lady. Additionally, within the first paragraph, Corapi has incorporated statistical data, stating that “23.5 million Americans live without supermarkets or other places where they can access fresh, nutritious foods.” The incorporation of this data enables the reader to become immersed into the subject matter of the article, immediately understanding what Michelle Obama, and Corapi, are referring to when they talk about food deserts. Clearly, Corapi begins her article this far to enable the reader to catch up with the information being disseminated, which is very logical, instead of if she had simply delved into the article beginning with the interview by Professor Cummins, which is the main aim of the article.
Ethos is visible both in the use of Michelle Obama, Professor Cummins, data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and from the state of Pennsylvania. In the example of Pennsylvania offered, the writer states that “88 new or expanded food retail outlets have been created, giving health food access to around 500,000 children and adults” (Corapi, 2014). This is credible information that a reader can trust since it comes from national statistics. Thus, the information portrayed by the author in her article gains validity.
In essence, the use of these rhetorical strategies and features enable the reader to gain a deeper understanding of the subject under discussion, as well as gain trust in the information presented by the author. Corapi included these features as a form of presentation that gives her article credibility. If the aim is to teach toe public, who are the consumers of her article, then she accomplishes this beautifully through the use of ethical and logical appeal. By the end of the paper, the reader understand that food deserts are prevalent in the United States, that there is need to eliminate such inequality, and that by doing so, the country can fight the war on obesity and chronic diseases, but with the incorporation of other policies as illustrated by Professor Cummins research.
References
Corapi, S. (February 3, 2014). Why It Takes More Than a Grocery Store to Eliminate a ‘Food
Desert.’ PBS News Hour, online. Retrieved from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/takes-grocery-store-eliminate-food-desert
Howerton, G., & Trauger, A. (2017). " Oh honey, don't you know?" The Social Construction of
Food Access in a Food Desert. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies , 16 (4).
