Lack of adequate and steady food is a rampant problem both domestically and internationally. A recent National Geographic article analyzed the problem of food scarcity in the US across the last fifty years. Traditionally concerned with "hunger," since 2006 researchers at the USDA have shifted focus to "food insecurity," a term that refers more to a generalized state of precarity. This is to say, in recent years, the issue has less to do with people being hungry all the time and more with people who can't count on not going hungry in the future. That this condition encompasses such a large percentage of college students is a frightening indictment of both the values and mechanics of the US economic system and its social programs.

A "food desert" is an area where consistent access to nutritious food is difficult to obtain. Many architects and socially-concerned individuals and groups are working towards ameliorating conditions in such places. Mogro – or mobile grocery – is a project that uses trucks to bring fresh groceries to desert communities in New Mexico. 

While often considered a rural issue, many urban areas are also plagued by a lack of places to purchase quality food (although they often are replete with liquor stores, bodegas, fast food, etc). Fresh Moves, a Chicago-based group, recently partnered with Architecture for Humanity to convert a Chicago Transit Authority bus into a mobile market. Locals can climb aboard the bus to find aisles packed with fresh produce available for purchase.

Do you know of any interesting architecture projects that dealt with food scarcity? Let us know!