Case Study: Reviewing the Cleveland Food Desert and Health Crisis

This case study reviews a video depicting the food desert situation in Cleveland, where approximately 450,000 residents lack access to healthy food options due to the scarcity of supermarkets and healthy food stores. Residents often have to travel long distances or rely on fast food, leading to malnutrition, obesity, and related health issues like heart disease and liver problems. The review highlights the video's strengths in showcasing the consequences of unhealthy eating habits and the opinions of health experts, while also noting its weaknesses, such as a lack of focus on governmental solutions and the importance of educating the public about the dangers of junk food. The review also points out the role of income inequality in access to nutritious foods and the disparities in healthcare-seeking behaviors. Desklib provides access to similar case studies and solved assignments for students.

Running Head: REVIEW: CLEVELAND FOOD DESERT
REVIEW: CLEVELAND FOOD DESERT
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1REVIEW: CLEVELAND FOOD DESERT
The purpose of the study is to review the video picturising Cleveland food desert. The video
informs the viewers that there is lack of food stores and supermarkets in Cleveland which
supplies healthy food. The video shows that people of Cleveland have to travel more than 2
miles to get access to healthy and hygienic foods (Neofoodweb.org, 2019). Thus the video
shows nearly 450,000 People in Cleveland are deceived of one of the basic rights - the right
of eat and stay healthy(Planetizen - Urban Planning News, Jobs, and Education, 2019).
The video highlighted that people of the communities of Cleveland have only two
choices in front of them. Either, they have to travel 2 miles away to buy healthy foods from
supermarkets, or they have to visit the fast food stalls. They have to depend on public
transports to visit supermarket. Hence staying healthy in Cleveland is expensive and time
consuming too. This is the reason, why they choose the most pocket friendly option- fast
foods. The video also showed that Cleveland and its suburb areas are flourished with fast
food centres. The popularity of this fast food business in Cleveland may be attributed to the
unavailability of supermarkets or stores providing healthy foods. If someone starts walking in
the streets of Cleveland, he will find a fast food stall or cheap bar in every two minutes
(Neofoodweb.org, 2019). Hence, it is more convenient for the people of Cleveland to grab a
burger than to rush to two miles away when they are hungry. Observing its treatment to the
core concept, which is “the lack of nutritious foods in Cleveland”, I can conclude that that
video should get a grade of B+.
I like the way the video has highlighted the consequences of consuming unhealthy
foods. The children of Cleveland are dying due to malnutrition (Neofoodweb.org, 2019).
Most of the teen agers in Cleveland are facing the obesity problem. Again, the people of the
communities have serious heart diseases which is attributable to their excessive consumption
of high calorie foods. Nearly the 37% of the young people are drunkards and suffers from
irregular functioning of livers. Looking at the lack of the availability of the nutritious foods in

2REVIEW: CLEVELAND FOOD DESERT
Cleveland and a high death rate due to stomach infection, experts termed Cleveland “A food
desert”. The video also contains the opinions of the health experts and their suggestions to the
people of Cleveland. According to the video, the ignorance by the government is also one of
the major reasons why Cleveland have turned in to a “Food Desert” (Planetizen - Urban
Planning News, Jobs, and Education, 2019).
Things I do not like in the video include- less focus on the role of the government to
solve this problem. The video should consists of recommendations of the experts to the
government. Government should come forward to establish supermarkets in the city of
Cleveland and subsidize the supply of nutritious foods, so that the communities in Cleveland
get healthy foods at cheaper rates (Neofoodweb.org, 2019). The importance to educate people
of Cleveland about the harmful effects of junk foods, is not highlighted in the video.
Finally, video highlights some points, which reflects that few rich people in Cleveland
are able to access healthy foods. They do not have to depend on public transports to visit
supermarkets as they have their own cars. Again they are able to employ people to collect
store foods for them. Hence income inequality is another factor for which the poor people in
Cleveland are deceived of nutritious foods. Again, the video shows that men are less likely to
visit health centres for treatment for which they suffers more than women in Cleveland. The
same truth is revealed through the death rate.

3REVIEW: CLEVELAND FOOD DESERT
References
Neofoodweb.org (2019). Hungry for Health: A Journey Through Cleveland's Food Desert |
NEO Food Web. [online] Neofoodweb.org. Available at:
http://neofoodweb.org/video/hungry-health-journey-through-clevelands-food-desert
[Accessed 26 Feb. 2019].
Planetizen - Urban Planning News, Jobs, and Education (2019). 450,000 People Live in Food
Deserts in the Cleveland Area. [online] Planetizen - Urban Planning News, Jobs, and
Education. Available at: https://www.planetizen.com/news/2017/10/95168-450000-people-
live-food-deserts-cleveland-area [Accessed 26 Feb. 2019].
Neofoodweb.org (2019). Food Access and Food Deserts in Cleveland | NEO Food Web.
[online] Neofoodweb.org. Available at: http://www.neofoodweb.org/video/food-access-and-
food-deserts-cleveland [Accessed 26 Feb. 2019].
ideastream (2019). Case Study Aims to Find New Ways to Tackle Cleveland Food Deserts.
[online] ideastream. Available at: https://www.ideastream.org/news/case-study-aims-to-find-
new-ways-to-tackle-cleveland-food-deserts [Accessed 26 Feb. 2019].