Everyone, everywhere is hungry for relief from soaring grocery prices. This hunger has seemingly fueled something far more concerning: a fast-food epidemic.
As groceries become increasingly expensive, more Americans are relying on cheap, convenient meals from chain restaurants that are chock-full of unhealthy ingredients. What has long been marketed as an occasional treat or indulgence has become a widely available, daily necessity for many Louisiana residents.
College students are especially vulnerable to this trend. A packed school schedule, a job and a small budget make grabbing a quick and filling meal all the more appealing. It’s all too easy to slip into unhealthy eating habits.
On LSU’s campus alone, it’s almost impossible to avoid fast food. Chick-fil-A, Panda Express, Sonic and Popeyes are all on campus, while Raising Cane’s looms overhead the moment you step off campus.
In Louisiana, these habits have statewide consequences. Nearly 39.2% of Louisiana adults are obese, placing our state among the worst in the nation for obesity rates.
While our rich food culture is often celebrated, the larger underlying issue is that unhealthy food has become the easiest and most affordable option.
While healthy choices do exist, they are often less convenient, more expensive or both.
But this issue extends far beyond just convenience. Food insecurity has become a growing crisis nationwide.
Students who are food insecure frequently skip meals or settle for inexpensive foods with little to no nutritional value and often worry about where their next meal will come from. Students should be worrying about academics, not when they’ll get a basic necessity like healthy, clean food.
Many people may attribute this issue to simply a lack of grocery stores. The reality is, however, far more complex.
Louisiana struggles with food deserts as much as it struggles with food swamps. These two terms are often used interchangeably even though they describe entirely different problems. A food desert is an area where residents may have limited accessibility to supermarkets or stores that sell fresh and healthy food.
Contrarily, a food swamp presents a different dilemma. Food swamps are characterized by a seeming-abundance of food options, but the vast majority of them are unhealthy. Much of Louisiana represents a food swamp rather than a food desert. Take a drive down any major road and you’ll pass every chain imaginable, from burger chains to fried chicken joints.
When unhealthy meals are the quickest option on every commute to and from campus, as well as on campus, choosing healthier alternatives that are farther away costs more money, effectively stripping the option from student choice.
To be exact, there are 23 McDonald’s restaurants, 10 Taco Bell restaurants, 10 Popeyes restaurants, and 10 of just about every major chain. This makes Baton Rouge home to over 125 locations of major fast food chains. Even fast food prices have risen wildly, around a 60% increase from 2014 to 2024 at the average chain.
It seems that now you cannot have both healthy or affordable — it’s one or the other. It shouldn’t be easier to find a drive-thru than a nutritious meal.
America’s obesity crisis will continue to grow until healthy eating becomes financially realistic, not just personally desirable.
This crisis is not a result of poor self control; it’s the result of an environment where unhealthy meals are aggressively marketed more than their fresh, nutritious competitors.
No one should have to choose between feeding themselves or feeding themselves well.
Jeanne Warren is a 20-year-old mass communications major from Baton Rouge, La.
