Food Studies Commons^™

No. 09: Comparing Household Food Security In Cities Of The Global South Through A Gender Lens, Liam Riley, Mary Caesar

Hungry Cities Partnership

Understanding the determinants of urban food insecurity requires sensitivity to local cultural contexts and taking into account a globally relevant framework for analysis. A gender lens is amenable to this kind of analysis because it is rooted in local configurations of households, livelihoods and consumption patterns, while also being animated by a longstanding global effort to create a world in which men and women are equal. This discussion paper is aimed at academic researchers and development practitioners concerned with urban food insecurity. It demonstrates the usefulness of a gender lens of analysis for generating new insights and questions about household …

Eco-News March 2017, Office Of Sustainability, University Of Southern Maine

Eco-News

In this issue:

• Trash Talk
• Upcoming Events
• Green Cleaning
• Sustainability Tip

No. 08: International Migration And Urban Food Security In South African Cities, Jonathan Crush, Godfrey Tawodzera

Hungry Cities Partnership

The drivers of food insecurity in rapidly growing urban areas of the Global South are receiving more research and policy attention, but the precise connections between urbanization, urban food security and migration are still largely unexplored. In particular, the levels and causes of food insecurity amongst new migrants to the city have received little consideration. This is in marked contrast to the literature on the food security experience of new immigrants from the South in European and North American cities. This paper aims to contribute to the literature on urban food security in the South by focusing on the case …

No. 07: Household Food Security And Access To Medical Care In Maputo, Mozambique, Cameron Mccordic

Hungry Cities Partnership

The relationship between household access to medical care and food security is a potentially circuitous and challenging relationship to model. This discussion paper uses multiple modelling techniques to determine the quality of the relationships between these variables using household survey data collected by the Hungry Cities Partnership in 2014 in Maputo, Mozambique. The results of the investigation are framed according to the Sustainable Livelihood Framework and indicate a predictive relationship between household food security status and consistent household medical care access among the sampled households. The results also identify potential conditional independence in the relationship between other demographic variables and …

No. 06: The Informal Sector’S Role In Food Security: A Missing Link In Policy Debates, Caroline Skinner, Gareth Haysom

Hungry Cities Partnership

This discussion paper aims to review what is currently known about the role played by the informal sector in general, and informal retailers in particular, in the accessibility of food in South Africa. The review seeks to identify policy-relevant research gaps. Drawing on Statistics South Africa data, we show that the informal sector is an important source of employment, dominated by informal trade with the sale of food a significant subsector within this trade. We then turn our attention to what is known about the informal sector’s role in food sourcing of poorer households. Surveys show that urban residents, and …

No. 07: The Urban Food System Of Mexico City, Mexico, Guénola Capron, Salomón Gonzalez Arellano, Jill Wigle, Ana Luisa Diez, Anavel Monterrubio, Héctor Hidalgo, Jesús Morales, José Castro, Cristina Sánchez-Mejorada, María Concepción Huarte T., María Teresa Esquivel, René Flores

Hungry Cities Partnership

This report provides an overview of Greater Mexico City and its food system. The city’s history, demographic characteristics, geography and economy are first discussed. The city’s urban food system and urban food security are then examined with a particular focus on formal and informal food retail, food expenditure patterns, and policies to combat hunger and food insecurity. Meeting the daily food demands of Mexico City’s over 20 million inhabitants requires the agricultural production of Mexico’s rural areas, its fishing industry and food imports. Food products arrive in the city from around the country in a combination of traditional and highly …

Forgotten By The Food Movement? (Library Resources), Holy Cross Libraries

Library Resources for Campus Events

A bibliography of resources available through the Holy Cross Libraries which provide additional information related to "Forgotten by the Food Movement?," a lecture by Margaret Gray held at the College of the Holy Cross on February 2, 2017.

No. 04: The Urban Food System Of Kingston, Jamaica, Elizabeth Thomas-Hope, Robert Kinlocke, Therese Ferguson, Charmaine Heslop-Thomas, Beth Timmers

Hungry Cities Partnership

Kingston is a colonial city and, like the country of Jamaica more generally, was the product of early mercantilism moulded by colonialism, sugar plantations and slavery. As Jamaica’s capital, Kingston is an economic and administrative hub with a social geography marked by many of the characteristic fissures of emerging cities in transition economies. Its population is fed by a combination of food imports and domestic production from agricultural areas across the island. The key trading point for fresh produce flows into Kingston is Coronation Market in the city centre. Between 60% and 70% of fruit and vegetables arriving at Coronation …

No. 05: The Urban Food System Of Bangalore, India, Aditi Surie, Neha Sami

Hungry Cities Partnership

Bangalore (officially Bangaluru) is one of India’s fastest-growing cities. It is now the fifth-largest urban agglomeration in India, and the capital and primate city of the state of Karnataka in terms of area, population and economic output. With no natural features restricting its development, Bangalore’s spatial growth patterns are characterized by urban sprawl. Although it accounts for only 0.4% of the area of Karnataka and about 16% of the total population of the state, Bangalore has the highest district income in the state, contributing approximately 34% to Gross State Domestic Product at current prices and is a magnet for investment …

Workshop Report: Hungry Cities Partnership Knowledge Mobilization Workshop In Nanjing, Zhenzhong Si

Hungry Cities Partnership

The Hungry Cities Partnership (HCP) and Nanjing University, China organized a workshop entitled “Wet Market and Urban Food System in Nanjing” on January 12, 2017 at the School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences of Nanjing University in Nanjing, China. The workshop aimed to disseminate the results of the HCP household food security survey in Nanjing to government officials and researchers and to discuss the management of the urban food system. It also facilitated communication and understanding between the HCP team and local government officials regarding research themes in 2017. Presenters included Prof. Jonathan Crush, HCP Postdoctoral Fellow Zhenzhong Si, and …

No. 03: The Urban Food System Of Cape Town, South Africa, Gareth Haysom, Jonathan Crush, Mary Caesar

Hungry Cities Partnership

Cape Town is South Africa’s second largest city and plays a critical role in the national economy. Despite its apparent wealth, Cape Town is very unequal in terms of food security with many areas experiencing high levels of food insecurity. The city’s urban food insecurity challenge is multi-dimensional with determining factors including the size of the city, its urbanization pattern, the legacy of apartheid, and economic marginalization. South Africa’s apartheid legacy is a food system with high levels of concentration in all aspects of the food value chain. For example, there are 5-6,000 wheat farmers but the four main millers …

Food Tourism In Cork’S English Market - An Authentic Visitor Experience, Lisa O'Riordan, Prof. Margaret Linehan, Aisling Ward

Irish Business Journal

Authenticity is deemed to be a crucial element in many tourism experiences. Tourism, however, is often accused of succumbing to notions of perceived authenticity to ensure commercial success, leading to misrepresentations of cultures. Food tourism, conversely, is advocated as a means of encountering genuine culture, history and lifestyle. This paper investigates the role of food tourism as an authentic representation of culture in Cork’s English Market. In-depth interviews were conducted with market traders and analysed through the grounded theory method. Results indicate that, allowing for natural evolution, food tourism is providing a platform for the continuation, sharing and development of …

No. 06: The Urban Food System Of Nairobi, Kenya, Samuel Owuor, Andrea Brown, Jonathan Crush, Bruce Frayne, Jeremy Wagner

Hungry Cities Partnership

Nairobi is a city of stark contrasts. Nearly half a million of its three million residents live in abject poverty in some of Africa’s largest slums, yet the Kenyan capital is also an international and regional hub. In East Africa, rapid urbanization is stretching existing food and agriculture systems as growing cities struggle to provide food and nutrition security for their inhabitants. Nairobi is no exception; it is a dynamically growing city and its food supply chains are constantly adapting and responding to changing local conditions. It is also an international city and the extent to which it is food …

Hard Apple Cider In The New York Hudson Valley Region: A Tourism Study, Meghann Smith, Pankaj Lal

Department of Earth and Environmental Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Hard apple cider production is an emerging industry in apple-growing regions of the United States due to the growing popularity of local craft products in the alcoholic beverage industry. This study strives to understand how hard cideries may affect local product promotion, rural tourism, and agriculture’s economic viability in the Hudson Valley region of New York. Tourism is evolving towards travelling for experiential value; the hard cider industry can offer an authentic environmentally and historically significant experience. By identifying the consumers and their expectations, the possibilities for building tourism specifically surrounding products with regional significance expand significantly. In this study, …

Emancipatory Rural Politics: Confronting Authoritarian Populism, Ian Scooner, Marc Edelman, Saturnino M. Borras Jr., Ruth Hall, Wendy Wolford, Ben White

Publications and Research

A new political moment is underway. Although there are significant differences in how this is constituted in different places, one manifestation of the new moment is the rise of distinct forms of authoritarian populism. In this opening paper of the JPS Forum series on ‘Authoritarian Populism and the Rural World’, we explore the relationship between these new forms of politics and rural areas around the world. We ask how rural transformations have contributed to deepening regressive national politics, and how rural areas shape and are shaped by these politics. We propose a global agenda for research, debate and action, which …

Engaging Parents To Promote Children’S Nutrition And Health: Providers’ Barriers And Strategies In Head Start And Child Care Centers, Dipti A. Dev, Courtney Byrd-Williams, Samantha Ramsay, Brent A. Mcbride, Deepa Srivastava, Ashleigh L. Murriel, Chrisa Arcan, Anna M. Adachi-Mejia

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Purpose: Using the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics benchmarks as a framework, this study examined childcare providers’ (Head Start [HS], Child and Adult Care Food Program [CACFP] funded, and non-CACFP) perspectives regarding communicating with parents about nutrition to promote children’s health.

Design: Qualitative.

Setting: State-licensed center-based childcare programs.

Participants: Full-time childcare providers (n ¼ 18) caring for children 2 to 5 years old from varying childcare contexts (HS, CACFP funded, and non-CACFP), race, education, and years of experience.

Methods: In-person interviews using semi-structured interview protocol until saturation were achieved. Thematic analysis was conducted.

Results: Two overarching themes were barriers and …

Community Gardens: Exploring Race, Racial Diversity And Social Capital In Urban Food Deserts, Jennifer F. Jettner

Theses and Dissertations

Study purpose. The study examined race and racial diversity in community gardens located in Southern urban food deserts, as well as the capacity of community gardens to generate social capital and promote social justice. Methods. A mixed-methods approach was used to describe characteristics of gardeners and community gardens located in urban food deserts, and test Social Capital Theory hypotheses. A convenience sample of 60 gardeners from 10 community gardens was obtained. Data was collected using surveys and semi-structured interviews. Analyses. Univariate and bivariate statistics were used to describe gardeners and gardens. Leader rationales for garden characteristics were analyzed using thematic …

No. 05: Mapping The Informal Food Economy In Cape Town, South Africa, Jane Battersby, Maya Marshak, Ncedo Mngqibisa

Hungry Cities Partnership

The informal food retail sector is an important component of urban food systems and plays a vital role in ensuring access to food by the urban poor. Yet, policy frameworks both to address food security and to govern the informal sector neglect informal retail in the food system and, as a result, the sector is poorly understood. This discussion paper argues that it is essential to understand the dynamics of the informal food retail sector, which is diverse in terms of products traded as well as the business models utilized. The paper attempts to identify the characteristics of the sector …

Sugar And Spice, Not Everything's Nice: Changing Dietary Habits In Bali, Harry Teplow

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In this paper, I will explore the ways in which locals interact with new food options on the island of Bali. Specifically, I will explore dietary behaviors surrounding pre-­‐ packaged snacks and ‘fast-­‐food’ chains and determine whether the presence of these food options is affecting the Balinese’s relationship with more traditional cuisine. I will use everyday observations and conversations with locals to analyze dietary habits and the various food items that are being consumed while examining the potential dietary differentiation between two age groups. I will also consider health outcomes in Bali and discuss how changing dietary habits may be …

Coming Of Age At The End Of Nature: A Generation Faces Living On A Changed Planet, Amy K. Coplen

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

This chapter appears in "Coming of Age at the End of Nature: A Generation Faces Living on a Changed Planet," published by Trinity University Press.

Coming of Age at the End of Nature explores a new kind of environmental writing. This powerful anthology gathers the passionate voices of young writers who have grown up in an environmentally damaged and compromised world. Each contributor has come of age since Bill McKibben foretold the doom of humanity’s ancient relationship with a pristine earth in his prescient 1988 warning of climate change, The End of Nature.

What happens to individuals and societies …

A Study Of The Integration Of Artificial Insemination Into The Dairy Sector Of The Alaotra Mangoro Region Of Madagascar, Tara Hammonds

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The region of Alaotra Mangoro in central Madagascar is one of the country’s focal points for the development of the dairy industry. The Coopération Décentralisée, a partnership between Alaotra Mangoro and the French department Ille et Vilaine, has since 2007 been offering and subsidizing artificial insemination (AI) services for increased dairy production and the amelioration of local breeds. The program benefits about 150 local dairy farmers, who have noted a significantly higher level of production than those farmers who have chosen to continue using natural service to inseminate their cattle. Artificial insemination use in the region has increased since the …

Give A Man A Fish: A Narrative Approach To A Case Study Of Soup Kitchens In The Wentworth Community, Evelyn Shen

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This study uses a narrative approach to explore the role of soup kitchens in the predominantly Coloured and English-speaking Wentworth community. Many of the community’s churches1 and non-profit organizations host soup kitchens regularly, rotating so that there is a meal available each day of the week.

Qualitative data was gathered through volunteering with the soup kitchens as a participant observer and having conversations and open-ended interviews with soup kitchen guests and hosts. Institutional context was provided by interviews with the Convener of the War Room and the Ward Councillor, and representatives of three non-profits in the community. In order to …

Urban Agriculture As Embedded In The Social And Solidarity Economy Basel: Developing Sustainable Communities, Isidor Wallimann

Program for the Advancement of Research on Conflict and Collaboration

The Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) is a viable strategy in dealing with some contemporary problems known both in industrial and developing countries. Addressed is how local populations could reach certain objectives and satisfy certain needs using techniques characteristic of SSE and, thus, carve out a social and economic space of their own vis-à-vis anonymous markets, global actors, local and national elites. Illustrated further is this strategy on the example of Urban Agriculture Basel, a unit of the Social Economy Basel. Within this self governed space, it is suggested, a path can be laid for the necessary transition towards local, …

‘Project Spraoi’: A Randomized Control Trial To Improve Nutrition And Physical Activity In School Children, Tara Coppinger, Seán Lacey, Cian O'Neill, Con Burns

Publications

Background

Recent evidence predicts that by 2030, Ireland will have the highest rate of obesity in Europe. Consequently, there are concerns that health problems associated with this condition will present in childhood. Studies have shown that interventions based on increasing physical activity (PA) levels, reducing sedentary lifestyles and improving nutritional habits all pose protective mechanisms against obesity and its related disorders in youth. Yet, to date, there are no interventions being delivered in Ireland that concurrently target PA, nutritional habits and sedentary time amongst school children.

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to implement and evaluate an intervention that …

No. 04: Supermarkets, Wet Markets And Food Patronage In Nanjing, China, Zhenzhong Si, Steffanie Scott, Cameron Mccordic

Hungry Cities Partnership

Although supermarkets have become a dominant food outlet for urban residents in developed countries, studies of food purchasing in developing countries such as China report a persistence of traditional food outlets, despite a proliferation of supermarkets over the past two decades. Yet, little is known about urban residents’ use of various food sources in the Chinese context. Building on the debate over the rise of supermarkets and the persistence of traditional food outlets, this paper analyzes the landscape of competing food sources including supermarkets, wet markets, restaurants, online food markets, urban agriculture and others. Based on the HCP citywide survey …

No. 03: Urban Food Deserts And Climate Change In African Cities, Mary Caesar, Jonathan Crush

Hungry Cities Partnership

The underlying assumption in much of the Euro-American food deserts literature is that urban food deserts are dynamic spaces, expanding and contracting with the advent and withdrawal of supermarkets. This discussion paper argues that to tie such dynamism purely to the spatial behaviour of formal food retail outlets is both narrow and inappropriate in the African context, where the use of the food deserts concept requires a sophisticated understanding of the multiple market and non-market food sources, of the spatial mobility and dynamism of the informal food economy, of the changing drivers of household food insecurity and the local conditions …

No. 02: Approaching Sustainable Urban Development In China Through A Food System Planning Lens, Zhenzhong Si, Steffanie Scott

Hungry Cities Partnership

After more than two decades of rapid urbanization, Chinese cities now face severe sustainability chal- lenges in terms of balancing economic viability, social justice, and environmental protection goals. While various types of planning have long been adopted to cope with these challenges, food as a centrepiece of daily life and of social and economic activity in cities has rarely been considered as a focus of urban planning in China, despite a lot of recent attention to food waste and food safety concerns. China’s food policy is largely fragmented in terms of its multiple regulatory agencies and diverse policy goals. Amid …

No. 01: Hungry Cities Of The Global South, Jonathan Crush

Hungry Cities Partnership

The recent inclusion of an urban Sustainable Development Goal in the Post-2015 UN Development Agenda represents an important acknowledgement of the reality of global urbanization and the many social, economic, infrastructural and political challenges posed by the human transition to a predominantly urban world. However, while the SDG provides goals for housing, transportation, land use, cultural heritage and disaster risk prevention, food is not mentioned at all. This discussion paper aims to correct this unfortunate omission by reviewing the current evidence on the challenges of feeding rapidly-growing cities in the Global South. The paper first documents the magnitude of the …

No. 02: The Urban Food System Of Maputo, Mozambique, Abel Chikanda, Inês Raimundo

Hungry Cities Partnership

The city of Maputo, with a population of around 1.3 million, has been at the forefront of urbanization in Mozambique. While the Southern African country has posted impressive macro-economic growth rates in the last two decades, there has been only limited formal sector employment generation. Most of its working population is absorbed in informal employment and self-employment. The informal food economy is easily the most important source of food in Maputo. Almost all households regularly obtain food from informal sellers; over 90% at least once a week and many on a daily basis. For many households, daily purchasing is necessitated …

The Return Of Food: Poverty And Urban Food Security In Zimbabwe After The Crisis, Godfrey Tawodzera, Liam Riley, Jonathan Crush

Hungry Cities Partnership

The nadir of Zimbabwe’s political and economic crisis in 2008 coincided with the implementation of a baseline household food security survey in Harare by AFSUN. This survey found that households in lowincome urban areas in Zimbabwe’s capital were far worse off in terms of all the food insecurity and poverty indicators than households in the other 10 Southern African cities surveyed by AFSUN. The central question addressed in this report is whether food security in Zimbabwe’s urban centres has improved. AFSUN conducted a follow-up survey in 2012 that allows for direct longitudinal comparisons of continuity and change. The status of …