ARTIST STATEMENT:
How close are you to your local grocery store? Most of us don't know. As long as it's close to home, it's not a problem. But if you don't have a local grocery store, or if you have a grocery store that's too far away without transportation, figuring out how you're going to buy groceries can be a big problem. As a Asian coming to the states five years ago. I have no idea the food desert phenomenon exist in this country and effects almost 36 million people. The more research I did, the more shocking this fact to me. People's choices about what to eat are severely limited by the choices they have and the things they can afford - many food deserts contain too many fast-food chains that sell cheap "meat" and fatty, sugary dairy products. Salt. Processed foods (such as snack cakes, crisps and sodas), which are usually sold at corner delicatessens, convenience stores and liquor stores, are generally unhealthy.
In most Asian countries. People love fast food like Mcdonalds and KFC. It's a place for family gathering, children birthday celebration place, and even a dating area for young couples. It's a place filled with joy, pleasure, and even some proud especially for young children. When I was eleven or twelve, I remember wishing my parents can take me to KFC for their kid’s meal, cause it always comes with some seasonal toys.
The idea I came up with this food desert project is to show the audience a different perspective from a person coming from a foreign country. As an Asian growing up, people in our country with the similar situation as people in food desert have completely different food choice. People in rural area with less access to grocery store and transportation tool have almost zero access to fast food, canned food, and all the other snacks. Their only choice for food are fresh veggies they grown in their own yard. People living on potatoes, carrots, corns and all the other veggies. In some case, their are much more healthier than people have all kind of food access. Fast food in China nowadays acts like a gathering place for young folks, because we are not used to having burgers and fries as our daily meal. This foreign culture thing became really popular among this young generations.