"Your Area Is Not Serviced"... Risking Lives for Groceries [Food Desert] ①

People Living in Food Deserts
No Grocery Stores Within a 2?3km Radius: The "Food Desert" Dilemma
The Struggle to Shop for Food in Dogok-ri, Dangjin, Chungcheongnam-do

Editor's NoteHave you ever found grocery shopping difficult? In an era where it seems unimaginable not to be able to buy the food you need anytime, either online or offline, there are still areas in South Korea where there is no supermarket within walking distance and not even delivery services are available, making it hard to obtain food. These places, where finding food is as difficult as finding an oasis in the desert, are called "food deserts." Food deserts are expanding due to aging populations, the decline of rural areas, and the digital divide. We aim to examine what problems arise from the everyday inconvenience of grocery shopping and to reflect on them together.

Results of entering the address of Dogok-ri Village Hall in two major delivery applications. There are no stores available for delivery. Photo by Jeon Jinyoung.

'There are no stores matching your selected criteria. Please try different options.'

When entering "46 Dogok-gil, Hapdeok-eup, Dangjin-si, Chungcheongnam-do, Dogok-ri Village Hall" into a delivery application, a message appeared stating that there were no available stores for delivery. Changing the category to Chinese or Western cuisine yielded the same result. This area, home to 59 residents with an average age of 70, is what is known as a "food desert," with no grocery stores within walking distance from their homes.

Only a Convenience Store Within 3km... 7km Trip Required for Fresh Food

Convenience store refrigerator section near Dogok-ri village hall. Retort pouch foods are mainly displayed. Photo by Jeon Jin-young.

For residents of Dogok-ri, grocery shopping for meals requires a lot of time and courage. One must travel 3 kilometers along a two-lane road from the village to reach three sparsely located convenience stores. Even if you visit a convenience store, you can only buy simple snacks such as cup rice, triangle kimbap, and chips-household necessities or fresh food are not available.

To buy fresh food such as fruits, dairy products, and meat, you need to go to a Hanaro Mart operated by Nonghyup, about 7 kilometers away. Considering that most studies define a food desert as an area without a grocery store within a 2 to 3 kilometer radius, this place represents an even more severe form of a food desert.

The Ugam Nonghyup and Hapdeok Nonghyup branches of Hanaro Mart are located across from each other in the town center, which is the busiest area. There is a bus terminal, a traditional market, and two supermarkets that offer everything from fresh food to frying pans and clothing. The stores are as large as those in metropolitan areas, fully stocked with frozen food, meat, seafood, and more. Ultimately, Dogok-ri residents must travel this distance to do satisfactory grocery shopping.

An elderly person is shopping at Hanaro Mart, Hapdeok Nonghyup, Dangjin, Chungnam on the 1st. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

A 10-Minute Drive, But... The Most Dangerous Grocery Trip in the World

On the 1st, a resident is working in the field in Dogok 1-ri, Hapdeok-eup, Dangjin, Chungnam. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

Accessibility is poor. It takes 10 minutes by car from Dogok-ri Village Hall to Hanaro Mart Ugam Nonghyup. You simply drive straight along a two-lane road into town. While it may seem like an easy distance, for the village's elderly residents, whose average age is in their 70s, this is the most dangerous grocery trip in the world.

Dogok-ri village is connected by a narrow, winding one-lane road that barely fits a car. After traveling this road for some time, you reach the main road, which is immediately filled with heavy vehicles traveling in both directions on a two-lane highway. This is because various industrial and agricultural complexes are located near Dogok-ri. Large dump trucks carrying lumber, trailers loaded with containers, and tankers transporting special chemicals all travel this road.

Residents must cross this road to go grocery shopping. Even to reach the bus stop, which is serviced only eight times a day, they must cross this two-lane road. While reporters traveled between the village hall and Hanaro Mart by car, they saw people pulling styrofoam boxes tied to handcarts along the roadside. These were elderly residents returning home after grocery shopping by bus.

If you miss the bus or have too much to carry, you need to find another way. Kim Jisoo, age 76, used to ride a 125cc four-wheel-drive agricultural motorcycle to go shopping before the mobile mart was introduced. For Kim, whose back is severely bent and who has difficulty walking due to a bad leg, the four-wheel-drive motorcycle is the best means of transportation.

When asked, "Sir, how do you go grocery shopping when it's so dangerous?" he simply looked at the reporters. Village leader Yoon Jaehyuk explained, "He can't hear well, so you need to speak loudly." When asked again in a louder voice, Kim pointed to an old motorcycle helmet in his basket. Even though he can barely see or hear, he braves the dangerous road to do his grocery shopping.

Kim's spouse is currently bedridden due to illness and cannot move. Their children have all moved away, so Kim is responsible for nursing his spouse, housework, and farming. In order to prepare nutritious side dishes like bulgogi for his spouse and to buy farming necessities, Kim gets on his motorcycle to go shopping, moving as slowly as he needs to.

Mr. Jisoo Kim's 125cc agricultural motorcycle is loaded with ramen and other items purchased from a mobile mart. Before mobile marts existed, he had to ride the motorcycle to do the shopping. Photo by Jeonyoung Jeon.

Some people use electric wheelchairs. The basket attached to the front of an electric wheelchair can easily carry a box of snacks. In the village, electric wheelchairs are nicknamed "Benz."

The problem is that elderly people riding these "Benz" wheelchairs to go grocery shopping are exposed to the risk of accidents. Even if they drive as close as possible to the roadside to avoid the heavy vehicles speeding by, electric wheelchairs, which cannot go faster than 10 km/h, are still at high risk of accidents.

Village leader Yoon said that someone in the village died in a car accident while going grocery shopping in a "Benz." "The bus company says it's not profitable, so what can we do?" He lamented that there are many problems he wants to solve, but things do not go as he wishes, and his frustration continued for some time.