Ken Kolb responds to Washington Post opinion about food deserts

Ken Kolb, professor and chair of sociology at Furman, penned a response to a Washington Post opinion piece about the issues of food deserts and food swamps, parts of cities lacking healthy food options or with abundant unhealthy ones. Kolb said in his response that investing in grocery stores and healthy food restaurants won’t solve the problem of food disparity. Cities should invest in infrastructure, childcare, job training and education first, and companies catering to healthier, more prosperous neighborhoods will follow. Kolb’s latest book, “Retail Inequality: Reframing the Food Desert Debate,” was nominated for a James Beard Award, and it won the book award from the Association for the Study of Food and Society.