Food environment Observations

OBSERVATIONS

Availability: There are a lot of shops and restaurants and in general, the availability is good because most shops open early in the morning and close in the afternoon. EXAMPLES: In the “Mercadona” (It’s a supermarket) opens at 9:00 am and closes at 21:00 pm.

Options: There are healthy and unhealthy food options. Most shops have nutritious food options such as: vegetables, integral bread, fruit or meat, but some shops have processed and unhealthy foods. The healthy food is easier to find in groceries than in supermarkets, because it is not expensive and is more natural.

Accessibility: Regarding its accessibility, most shops and restaurants aren’t accessible because there aren’t car parks near all the shops or restaurants.

Most shops have a ramp to access, but some shops have got steps to get in.

We observed that big supermarkets such as Mercadona have better accessibility because they have a car park and good access.

Cost: Regarding its cost, nutritious food is typically less expensive than processed food. For example, in a supermarket the healthy food is less expensive (a kg of apples costs 2.27 euros) than the processed food like cakes, biscuits…(a box of biscuits cost 4 euros).

But we observed that nutritious food with more quality is more expensive than processed food. For example, if you buy the meat in a butcher’s or the vegetables in a green grosser’s, the food has more quality, but it is more expensive than processed food or healthy food with less quality. In big supermarkets, the cost of nutritious food is sometimes affordable, but it may not have so much quality.