“Food Deserts” Informative Speech Outline

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This speech was performed and graciously submitted for use on this website by Bella Reed, a finalist for the Spring 2019 Smokey Talks public speaking competition at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Purpose:  Make people aware of food deserts and what it means to live in one.

Thesis:  

To understand the impact of food deserts we must first define them, discuss the impact of eating a processed diet and explore why food deserts happen.

Organizational Pattern:  Topical

1. Introduction
2.  Attention Getter: What do you think of when you picture a desert, is it something like this? [visual aids of real deserts] What about this? [visual aid of food desert]

1.  Relevance: We all know the importance of eating healthy food, and most of us have the privilege of having access to the kind of foods that fuel our bodies like fresh meat, fruit, and vegetables[visual aid of good food]. But what if you didn’t have access to these foods? What if this [aid]  was your only option?
2.  Credibility: As a nutrition major, this scenario really interests me, but as it turns out this scenario is a reality that happens all too often. These areas are food deserts, and according to data collected between 2010 and 2015, USDA has found that at least 17.3 million people in the united states live in an area that can be classified as a food desert
3.  Thesis: [aid] Today I am going to explain what food deserts are, who is affected by them, and the health effects of living in one.
4.  Preview: We’ll start by looking at what food deserts look like in a food oasis like America, but also eat up some data from other countries, boil down who is affected, and finally we’ll peel back the layers and look at the connection between food deserts and obesity and talk a little bit about the effects of a processed diet.

Transition: Let’s start to digest the definition of a food desert.

1. Body
2.  What is a food desert?
3.  According to a report to Congress by the USDA, [Visual Aid] a food desert is defined as an area  “with a high proportion of low-income residents who are constrained in their access to affordable, nutritious food because they live far from a large grocery store and/or do not have easy access to transportation”
4. Oftentimes, while people in food deserts don’t have easy access to grocery stores or farmers markets, fast food and convenience stores are readily available and are sometimes the only option they have to feed their families

1. 1. 1. Because people who live in food deserts are low income, trying to purchase produce at a gas station or a similar business means paying severely inflated prices. It’s cheaper to buy a candy bar than a banana.
      2. It is less expensive and more convenient to go to a fast food restaurant and purchase a hamburger for dinner than it is to pay the same price for produce that might not keep them full or take 2 buses to the grocery store and lug your weeks worth of groceries back home.
      3. This is an international issue. According to the article “Food deserts or Swamps?” found in the journal Science Direct and published in 2015, the prices of fruits and vegetables in Mexico can be over 25% higher in low-income neighborhoods than middle-income neighborhoods.

Transition: We know that these people are low income, but who exactly are they?

1. Demographics
2. The same article found schoolchildren in low-income areas in Mexico struggle to navigate around their food environment, quoting one student who said: “I know I should come directly home after school because if I don’t, there will be too many temptations to eat chatarra.” Another child said that their biggest obstacle in eating healthy was “sweets- because they’re everywhere.”
3. The foodscapes these children live in don’t give them the opportunity to make healthy choices
4. In her article, “The Food Desert”, Jennifer Wehunt, a senior editor of the Chicago Magazine, interviews a researcher who has found that over 600,000 residents of food deserts within Chicago, that’s enough to fill Neyland Stadium 6 times! Out of that number, 64,000 people don’t have a vehicle, 109,000 are single mothers. Food deserts also disproportionately affect people of color.

Transition: You may be thinking: “But is eating fast food really that bad?” “At least these people have access to something!”

1.  Effects of eating a Food Desert Diet
2. The same researcher found that in areas with the worst access to fresh food, 10 out of every 1000 people died from cancer, compared to 7 out of 1000 in the neighborhoods with the best availability, even after isolating for other variables. These people are also at higher risk of developing weight-related diseases like heart disease and diabetes.
3.  Did you know that according to an article with contributions from over 20 medical professionals 1980–2013 in the Lancet Journal, obesity is linked to more deaths worldwide than underweight and malnutrition.
4. It’s common knowledge that in order to stay healthy and to maintain a healthy weight that you must eat a proper diet, but how can you make healthy choices when you don’t have access to them?

Transition: In this speech, I have explored…..

III. Conclusion

1.  Thesis/Summary: In this speech, we’ve taken a look at food deserts, looked at who is affected by them, and how the food that is available to them affects their health.
2.  Memorable Close: We may be in Tennessee, but the desert is a lot closer than you think. [Visual Aid] The areas in yellow are areas where more than 100 people live over a mile from a grocery store, have a low income, and don’t have access to a vehicle.

I’m just asking that you not be blinded by the mirage of fast food restaurants, and be aware of the reality that is the food desert.