TABLE 1.

Domains, Dimensions, Definitions, and Example Quotations for Emergent Theory of Nutritious Food Access

Domain	Dimension	Definition	Example Quotation
Economic access	Household finances	Financial resources of the household available for food purchases	You try and get as much quality as you can or get as much food as you can for the dollar that you have.
	Food costs	Cost of nutritious foodstuff	There’s things that I would like to try that are healthier. And it’s a little bit more expensive. I’ve found out everything that is healthier for you, cost more.
	Store incentives	Coupon or other incentive programs at store	I don’t get food stamps, like a lot of people, and when you have to go in the store and spend cash money you have to figure out how to get the best deal for your money. And then be able to eat good meals, you know what I’m saying, well-balanced meals. So I just go through the papers and find my sales that I like, buy the foods that we like and that’s what I do. And I go through my Sunday paper and clip all the coupons. Lord have mercy, you’d be surprised how much you save with a coupon.
	Value	Perception of whether food in store is worth the price	I go to two different stores in that same day. I like [budget grocer] because their can goods are cheap. I love going there ‘cuz their can goods are cheap and their salad dressings and some of their frozen foods are cheap there. And I go to the bigger grocery store—if I can’t make the meat market—for my meats and my fresh vegetables.
Service delivery	Foods sold	Quality and variety of items sold in stores	Ah, so I mean, it’s the quality of what [food] you’re trying to get. You know, as a shopper I always want quality for what I’m spending and product quality to me is the most important thing. I’ll drive farther to save some money but I’d also drive even farther out of my way if the quality of something in one place is not as good.
	Staff and service	Timeliness, helpfulness, and respectfulness of food service personnel	So many times at [name of grocery store] you come in and there’s a lot of people in the store but you might have only one register [opened]. And so then you come in and try to get in and out … and then you’re sitting there stuck because they don’t have enough people [working].
	Presentation	General organization and layout of a store and customer base	If you feel like you have plenty [of store options], you go where you like the store … where you like what the people look like. And you know, nobody’s looking shady. … You’re not worried about anything, or at least you think you’re safe.
Spatial-temporal access	Boundaries of local food environment	Subjectively determined; area around one’s home regardless of geographic boundaries	If you’re living in a city or in a community it’s a little better definition to it [neighborhood] than if you are living in a rural area.
	Balanced access	Diversity of food stores available in the local food environment	Balanced: Where I live is very convenient to everything so I live in a great part so there is a [name of warehouse food store] on one side, then on the other side there are grocery stores which are [name of chain supermarket] and [name of organic market]. Imbalanced: Where I live they got a couple little small stores, which I wouldn’t buy dog food from. ‘Cause it would be outdated.
	Travel time	Time to travel to food stores and access to reliable transport	All those little stores is kind of like in a cluster so I’m really not burning up a lot of gas to go from store to store because the stores that I pick, they’ll be all in that same vicinity.
	Time costs	Time resources of the household available for food-related activities	Usually I go one place [name of chain grocer]. I know where everything at, so it doesn’t take me long to get what I need and get out.
Social access	Culture	Family, racial, and ethnic foodways and traditions influencing food access	I think that a lot of times, as a race we [African Americans] are afraid to make changes because we don’t want to appear trying to be White or we’re trying to eat White. But when there is an understanding of that African people throughout the diaspora ate the kinds of foods that they ate, then it frees people up to make different choices and understand that they’re really not eating White; they’re eating the way they originally ate.
	Discrimination	Differential access to foods based on race, class, geographic location, or gender	I don’t want to go with a “race card” but just say, for instance, if I went to [name of chain grocery store] in [minority community], some items there, I would not find. I’m not saying that that store is dirty, but it’s a lot of stuff there that I may go there to look for but I would not find. If I went to [name of same chain grocery store] in [majority White community] … whatever they have advertised in that paper, their cuts of meats are much fresher. They do their meats like daily. You understand what I’m saying? And they pull these items out of the counter if they don’t sell them that day. These items get pulled in the [majority White] store. In the [minority community], they may stay there a couple of days and then they’ll put a ticket on there and say, “We’ve reduced this by a dollar in order to sell that item.”
	Relationships	Connections to growers, food service personnel, and/or other customers in food outlets.	I go different places to shop. Sometimes I just go with my people just to be going and then I’ll come back and I might get it or might not get it.
Personal Access	Health status	Aspects of individual and family health or disease that influence food access	I’m on a fixed income, so it’s kinda hard for me sometimes. You know, I have to go that far to get food because I have health problems and I have to eat certain foods. You know, it’s not by my choice that I have to do this. And it’s more expensive and when you’re paying your money, you kinda want the best. Good quality. Freshness. And it’s hard to find.
	Food and nutrition knowledge	What people know or believe to be true and important about food and eating	I know all this but it still doesn’t change the fact that, because I was in a survival mode, that I ate a lot of canned goods, even though I knew they were high in sodium. I ate a lot of pork, even though I knew that it leads to high blood pressure and, you know, I mean, I was eating a lot of things that I knew were not good for me. I would drink a ton of Kool-Aid. … I still drink Kool-Aid, … I’m struggling to get rid of that one, but, ah, I know all that stuff and I know that it’s not good for you.
	Food-related identities and preferences	How a person identifies themselves as an eater or shopper and how personal and family members preferences influence food access.	I feel like I’m a healthier eater than the rest of my family so I influence—because I cook—them being healthy and not knowing it. You know, the turkey or the, I only buy the 93% lean meat. If we do have meat. Like our hamburger. I try to buy the healthiest and I guess I consider you know, really, if my kids, we all want, we probably eat cheeseburgers once every week or two. I still think if I buy the Orida French fries and make 93% lean burgers. That’s so much healthier than going to a restaurant and getting the same thing; you know what I mean. We try, we eat in a lot. We don’t eat out. We eat out probably once a week for a main week. Maybe once a week for lunch and once a week for dinner. So I do cook, like I said, it’s just more of the shortcut ways of eating healthy I guess.