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Food deserts are an attractive metaphor, but because defining this phrase and actually identifying food deserts as geographic places are a contentious endeavour, it is more revealing to discuss related terms. Inherent in the debate around food deserts (i.e. how they are defined, if and where they exist) is the topic of access. The central purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that access is a more accurate and less misleading concept than food deserts when it comes to highlighting food inequalities.

Social exclusion, choice, food security, and public health are fields on which the paper draws. The proposition is that food security studies have entered a postmodern food security paradigm, which can readily be seen in US‐based community food security efforts.

Progressing beyond the initial attention‐grabbing nature of the food desert term, a conceptually thin foundation is discovered that impedes universal understanding and acknowledgment that areas of inadequate food access do exist. Food access, on the other hand, is an established phrase that has evolved and been applied in different arenas to address food security. Food access is a readily understood concept that can be tailored to specific applications; whether it is physical, economic, or informational food access.

It is proposed here that access is a more accurate and less misleading concept than food deserts when it comes to highlighting food inadequacies.

Different from the previous studies in the Sudanese literature, this study aims to examine the incidence and of food security, the variation in households' food insecurity between localities and the adaptation and survival strategy in Kassala State as a case study of Eastern Sudan.

This paper uses the measurement of Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) and uses new primary data from a Food Security Household Survey in Kassala State (2019) and uses the descriptive analysis to discuss the measurement of HFIAS, the incidence of food security, the variation in households' food insecurity between localities and the adaptation and survival strategy in Kassala State.

The authors find that the majority of household (77%) are food-insecure of various degrees, with 32.9% being severely food-insecure, while some households are food-secure (23%). The authors find support for their hypothesis that there will be variation in households' food insecurity between localities that most probably relate to variation in the distribution of monthly income between localities. In particular, the authors find that most households in rural areas are severely food-insecure.

This paper provides a significant contribution to the Sudanese and international literature because it discusses the incidence of food insecurity in Sudan. Different from the two other accompanying papers that focused on the determinants of food security in Kassala State using the measurement of HFIAS and determinants of production of food and consumption of food in Kassala State, this paper focuses on the incidence of food security in Kassala State using the measurement of HFIAS.

This paper aims to discuss the determinants of food security in Kassala state using the measurement of Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS). We use the measurement of HFIAS and use new primary data from a food security household survey in Kassala state (2019).

This paper focuses on the determinants of food security in Kassala state using the measurement of Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS), using new primary data from a food security household survey in Kassala state (2019) and using the multinomial logistic regression analysis and both ordered logit and ordered probit regression to examine the determinants of food security.

Our results are in support of our hypothesis that the significant determinants of household food insecurity are family-owned production (that negatively affects the probabilities of household being food insecure), household income (that negatively affects HFIAS). We observe that the effects of family-owned production on household food insecurity are particularly significant in the case of mildly and moderately food insecurity. We explain that the other factors that affect the household food insecurity include improvement in the level of agricultural services, marketing, banking services and road characteristics that reduce HFIAS. We find a gender gap related to food security in the sense that male-headed households produce more food compared to female-headed households and also families headed by males are more likely food secure. Therefore, the major policy implication from our results is the importance of increasing households income and enhancing family own production of food to eliminate food insecurity.

This paper provides a significant contribution to the Sudanese and international literature because it discusses the determinants of food security in Kassala state. Different from the two other accompanying papers that focused on the incidence of food security in Kassala state using the measurement of Household Food Insecurity Access Scale (HFIAS) and the determinants of production of food and consumption of food in Kassala state, this paper focuses on the determinants of food security in Kassala state using the measurement of HFIAS and using new primary data from a food security household survey in Kassala state (2019). We fill the gap in the Sudanese literature because we provide a more interesting analysis of the determinants of food security in Kassala state. Our analysis is useful from policy perspective since we provide useful policy recommendations to enhance food security through agricultural development in Kassala state.

Applying mitigation measures during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in ‘locking down’ of economies, and disrupted agri-food markets worldwide. Income losses and food price increases negatively affected food security. The ‘stay-at-home’ policy led some households towards a positive shift in eating habits and maintaining these changes could contribute to better nutrition. The Russia–Ukraine war and soaring energy and food prices contributes further to the pressure on the global food system and urgency to consider longer term resilience capacities of national food systems.

The aim of the chapter is to identify and review food security challenges that governments and societies have faced during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond, with specific emphasis on Poland.

The methodological approach was to undertake a narrative literature review and to analyse a number of indicators relating to food security at the national level. These were quantified using data from Economist Impact, the World Bank, the European Commission, FAOSTAT and Statistics Poland.

The 2019–2022 Global Food Security Index for Poland remained quite stable, but the number of food insecure people increased significantly. Hence, urgent government measures are needed to ensure food security for all. Since 2021, high food inflation has reduced food affordability and is expected to remain high due to the Russia-Ukraine war, market pressures on energy prices and climate-related weather conditions. Greater food self-sufficiency in Poland is a key strategy to build up the resilience of the national food system.

Access to food through retail supply chain distribution can vary significantly among the urban poor and leads to household food insecurity. The paper explores this sustainable supply chain phenomenon through a field study among South Africa's urban poor.

Urban metabolic flows is the theoretical basis in the context of supply chain management (SCM). The field study comprised 59 semi-structured interviews in one South African township. Data were recorded, transcribed and translated, and coded using NVivo 12 to provide an inventory of eight themes categorized and patterned from the analysis.

Findings indicate societal factors play a significant role affecting food distribution, access and security from a spatial perspective of retail outlet locations and a nutritional standpoint regarding quality and quantity of food.

The study is exploratory in one township, and while rigorously conducted, the generalizability of findings is limited to this context.

The study practically contributes by providing guidance for food retailers and policymakers to include nutritional guidelines in their distribution planning, as well as the dynamics of diverse neighbourhoods that exist in modern urban contexts.

New forms of retail food distribution can provide better security and access to food for the urban poor, contributing to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2 Zero Hunger and 11 Liveable Cities.

The study is interdisciplinary and contributes by linking UN SDGs and SCM through urban metabolic flows from development studies as an overarching framework to enable analysis of relationships between physical, social and economic factors in the urban environment.

This study aims to analyse the nature and trends in the knowledge discovery process on COVID-19 and food insecurity using a comprehensive bibliometric analysis based on the indexing literature in the Scopus database.

Data were extracted from Scopus using the keywords COVID-19 and food security to ensure extensive coverage. A total of 840 research papers on COVID-19 and food security were analysed using VOSviewer and RStudio software.

The findings of the bibliometric analysis in terms of mapping of scientific research across countries and co-occurrence of research keywords provide the trends in research focus and future directions for food insecurity research during times of uncertainty. Based on this analysis, the focus of scientific research has been categorised as COVID-19 and food supply resilience, COVID-19 and food security, COVID-19 and public health, COVID-19 and nutrition, COVID-19 and mental health and depression, COVID-19 and migration and COVID-19 and social distancing. A thematic map was created to identify future research on COVID-19 and food security.

This analysis identifies potential research areas such as food supply and production, nutrition and health that may help set future research agendas and devise policy supports for better managing food insecurity during uncertainty.

This analysis provides epistemological underpinnings for knowledge generation and acquisition on COVID-19 and food insecurity.

As a movement for alternative means of food production and consumption has grown, so, too, have civic efforts to make alternative food accessible to low-income persons (LIPs). This article examines the impact of alternative food institutions (AFIs) on low-income communities in the United States and Canada, focusing on research published since 2008.

Through a three-stage literature search, I created a database of 110 articles that make empirical or theoretical contributions to scholarly knowledge on the relationship of AFIs to low-income communities in North America. I used an in vivo coding scheme to categorize the impacts that AFIs have on LIPs and to identify predominant barriers to LIPs’ engagement with AFIs.

The impacts of AFIs span seven outcome categories: food consumption, food access and security, food skills, economic, other health, civic, and neighborhood. Economic, social and cultural barriers impede LIPs’ engagement with AFIs. AFIs can promote positive health outcomes for low-income persons when they meet criteria for affordability, convenience and inclusivity.

This review exposes productive avenues of dialogue between health scholars and medical sociology and geography/environmental sociology. Health scholarship offers empirical support for consumer-focused solutions. Conversely, by constructively critiquing the neoliberal underpinnings of AFIs’ discourse and structure, geographers and sociologists supply health scholars with a language that may enable more systemic interventions.

This article is the first to synthesize research on five categories of alternative food institutions (farmers’ markets, CSAs, community gardens, urban farms, and food cooperatives) across disciplinary boundaries.

The nexus between sustainable agri-food production and food security outcomes of farm households in sub-Saharan Africa is attracting policy attention. This study analyzes the effects of crop diversity on the incidence of food scarcity, dietary diversity, and the sale and consumption of own crops.

The study uses panel data collected in 2015 and 2018 on a randomly selected sample of 2553 households from 49 villages in northern Ghana. The study employed a fixed effects modeling approach in the empirical analysis.

The study finds that crop diversity is positively associated with better dietary diversity, reduced hunger, lower food expenditure, and higher consumption of own produce. The results show positive effects of crop diversity on the total harvested output and sale of agricultural production. Whilst sales improved sustainable food and nutrition security by providing purchasing power to buy nutritional inputs in the market, consumption of own produce rather improved food availability by reducing food scarcity and malnutrition.

Crop diversity is one of the pathways for promoting sustainable agri-food production systems to ensure the food and nutritional security of vulnerable populations and promote biodiversity to achieve environmental goals in sub-Saharan Africa. Crop diversity reduces food expenditure and raises rural incomes through improved outputs and sales, which empowers farm households to diversify their dietary options to be able to overcome incidences of hunger and malnutrition in periods of food scarcity.

The present study improves the understanding of sustainable agri-food production through crop diversity and its implications on food and nutrition security outcomes. The panel data and fixed effects modelling approach address the endogeneity problem between crop diversity and household tastes and preferences.

This study aims to explore how key stakeholders and recipients of local food access programs operate strategically to meet individual and community food needs, enhance experiences of dignity and promote social justice. The study of a fragmented community food system highlights the connections between micro and meso dimensions of food access, illustrating how people work around food system limitations to access food.

Using qualitative in-depth interviews with food assistance managers, workers, volunteers and recipients, this study examines the period before the implementation of a centralized community-based food access initiative in a mid-sized, rural Oklahoma college town with a high rate of food insecurity. This study asks: What are community members’ experiences in a fragmented food assistance system? In what ways do individuals use everyday resistance and workarounds to actively promote experiences of dignity and social justice in food access spaces?

Those involved in sites of community food access build important networks to share information and engage in negotiation and trade to gain access to useful food resources. As forms of everyday resistance, such practices encourage co-construction of dignity and social justice in stigmatized spaces.

This research contributes to literature examining micro- and meso-level community dynamics that inform agency, dignity and social justice in community food access approaches.

The purpose of this study was to explore issues related to the food environment from a systems perspective using a quick response disaster research methodology in New Bern, North Carolina during the immediate response to Hurricane Florence in 2018.

A four person reconnaissance team arrived six days after Hurricane Florence made landfall to observe community food and meal provision, interview individuals working in food related response, assess the price, quality and availability of food, and interview individuals affected by the storm during the immediate response period to Hurricane Florence in New Bern, North Carolina.

Multiple issues emerged that are important for the understanding of food in a disaster recovery context including food access issues for households with flooding damage as well as those with minor impacts like electricity loss or evacuation without damage, disruption to farming and retail food business, and changes in food availability.

When examining food access and food security, many community members were affected that did not experience housing disruption and there were shifts in community food availability after Hurricane Florence. Understanding these disruptions is critical for evaluating food-related response and assistance following disaster to ensure unmet needs are addressed. Further, addressing community food needs is an important lever for bolstering disaster recovery.

This is the first study in the USA to examine the food system following disruption from an environmental disaster and to identify issues in the post-disaster food environment.