Fighting Food Insecurity with The Nashville Mobile Market: A Temporary Solution to Systemic Food Injustice

Abstract

A comprehensive review of the state of food security in the United States with a specific focus on the communities in Nashville, Tennessee is presented in this thesis. Food insecurity is proposed as a mechanism by which diet-related health disparities are maintained. The reduction of health disparities, particularly diet-related conditions like Type II diabetes, chronic heart disease, and obesity, between individuals of differing race, income-level, educational attainment, socioeconomic status, and geographic residential location is not possible without reducing the structural barriers impeding access to fresh, healthful foods. The Nashville Mobile Market circumvents these barriers—cost, time, and energy—by providing a dependable, convenient mobile grocery store. This thesis provides a detailed analysis of The Nashville Mobile Market, its development, sustainability, operation, and its use as a research tool to assess changes in purchasing and consuming fresh produce.