Abstract
This article explores the reconfigurations of fish consumption practices in Myanmar in a context of rapid urbanization and changing availability of wild and farmed fish. Using a social practice lens, we analyze how everyday fish consumption practices change as people move from the rural Ayeyarwady Delta to Yangon city. We show how these reconfigurations are shaped by new routines in urban areas and the transition from capture fisheries to aquaculture. Our analysis reveals a growing detachment of consumers from production processes but, at the same time, a continuity in their everyday food routines through the upholding of “mother’s traditional cuisine”, and a general drive to preserve commensality. We demonstrate the value of using a social practices lens integrating micro- and meso-scale socio-cultural processes to understand dietary change by examining how rural-urban migration influence the sourcing, cooking, and eating of wild and farmed fish. These insights have implications for the everyday geography of consumption, including the persistence of socio-culturally appropriate food practices and the hybridisation of rural-urban food environments. As such, social practice approaches to the study of food consumption open up a means of understanding and even steering complex food system transitions in dynamically changing regions such as Southeast Asia.
Highlights
Food systems thinking is gaining traction in science and policy as a common framework for understanding and shaping the relationships between food production, provision, and consumption (Ericksen, 2008; HLPE, 2017)
How do fish consumption practices change in response to rural-urban migration? Second, what implications do these reconfigurations hold for understanding broader processes of change in the food fish system? Third, how does the specific case of food fish in Yangon advance a more general understanding of urban dietary changes? We find that fish consumption practices are reconfigured by new routines as they travel back and forth across urban and rural spaces
By focusing on the bundles of practices that constitute sourcing, preparing, and eating fish we explore the ways in which routinized rural fish consumption practices change as they are carried into urban contexts (Fig. 1)
Summary
Food systems thinking is gaining traction in science and policy as a common framework for understanding and shaping the relationships between food production, provision, and consumption (Ericksen, 2008; HLPE, 2017). Macro-level analyses tend to emphasise the increasing share of non-staple food items in urban diets, including ani mal products and processed foods, as well as the increasing opportunity costs of time, and the higher prevalence of eating away from home (Popkin, 2001; Ma et al, 2006; Pingali, 2007; Reardon et al, 2014) Such analyses tend to conflate growing urban populations with rising incomes and the ‘westernization’ of food practices, and in doing so tend to overlook micro- and meso-scale socio-cultural effects of changing urban food practices and their impact on the wider food sys tem – both in urban and rural settings (Fine, 2002; Veeck & Burns, 2005; Fourat & Lepiller, 2017; Hansen, 2018). Research on these dynamics is pressing in Asia given the region has the highest rate of urbanization in the world (UN, 2014), and there remains persistent concern over urban food security (Haddad et al, 1999; Sonnino et al, 2016; Ruel et al, 2017)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
