Abstract
The need for a shift toward healthier and more sustainable diets is evident and is supported by universalized standards for a “planetary health diet” as recommended in the recent EAT-Lancet report. At the same time, differences exist in tastes, preferences and food practices among diverse ethnic groups, which becomes progressively relevant in light of Europe’s increasingly multi-ethnic cities. There is a growing tension between current sustainable diets standards and how diverse ethnic resident groups relate to it within their ‘culturally appropriate’ foodways, raising questions around inclusion. What are dynamics of inclusiveness in migrant food practices? And what does this mean towards the transition to healthy and sustainable food? We study this question among Syrian migrants with different lengths of stay in the Netherlands. Our theoretical framework is based on practice theories, which emphasize the importance of socio-material context and of bodily routines and competences. We use qualitative methods, combining in-depth semi-structured life-history interviews with participant observation. Our findings indicate that inclusiveness takes different forms as migrants’ food practices and the food environment change. Regarding health and sustainability in food practices, understandings and competences around particularly fresh food change over time among both short- and long-term migrants, replacing making things from scratch with seasonal products with buying more processed products and out-of-season vegetables and fruits. We conclude that the performances of food practices and their configurations in food environments and lifestyles are dynamic and cannot unequivocally be interpreted as in- or exclusive, but that a more nuanced understanding is required.
Highlights
In light of the serious threats from global climate change and the increasing world population, the need for a shift toward healthier and more sustainable diets is evident (Burlingame and Dernini 2012; Garnett 2014; Lang 2017; EAT-Lancet Commission 2019)
We look at how inclusiveness works differently for short- and long-term migrants, taking into account differences and changes in the food environment and in lifestyles over time
We zoom in on the practices of acquisitioning and preparing food, with specific attention to meanings of health and sustainability. We observe how these practices relate to the changing food environment and to changing bundles of practices or lifestyles, and elaborate how these interactions illustrate different dynamics of inclusiveness
Summary
In light of the serious threats from global climate change and the increasing world population, the need for a shift toward healthier and more sustainable diets is evident (Burlingame and Dernini 2012; Garnett 2014; Lang 2017; EAT-Lancet Commission 2019). A growing body of literature integrates the two aspects of health and sustainability into an overall ‘sustainable diet’ (Hallström et al 2018), which Lang (2017) defines as a diet that is healthenhancing, has low environmental impact, is culturally appropriate and economically viable (see Burlingame and Dernini 2012). Within this ongoing debate, there is a trend toward universalizing, uniform standards of healthy and sustainable diets that are valid across a nation or even the entire globe. The latest version of the Wheel of Five (2016) for the first time takes into account sustainability, by putting a limit on the amounts of meat and fish recommended per week and advising to consume legumes and nuts
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