Food-related health concerns of Punjabi British Columbians: postcolonial perspectives on nutrition and health education

Abstract

Food consumption and food-related practices serve many purposes in human life. From a cultural perspective, food practices are involved in creating a sense of community, belonging, and common experiences and needs. Food practices, in terms of cooking and eating, are an aspect of culture that can be carried over during migration from the country of origin to the host country. This is, however, usually countered with some degree of acculturation. A current public health concern in North America is that immigrants’ dietary acculturation may lead to a decrease in the healthfulness of their food choices and therefore increase their risk for certain diet-related diseases. The decreased healthfulness is suggested to be a result of adopting unhealthy North American food patterns, and/or preserving or amplifying unhealthy aspects of traditional food patterns. One group experiencing this phenomenon is the South Asian immigrant population, which is believed to have a higher risk for developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes than does the general population in North American or the general population in India. In this study, we explored the food-related health concerns of Punjabi British Columbians, a sizeable population living in British Columbia, Canada. Through semi-structured interviews with teenagers and adults, we examined the multiple discourses evident in their comments about food and health concerns, finding complex intermingling of traditional South Asian and contemporary medicalized North American discourses. These findings are interpreted through a postcolonial theoretical lens to raise questions regarding health promotion and nutrition education practices.