Food Inequality Research Articles

Food inequality in Kharkiv during the war: an overview of causes, manifestations and ways to overcome

The article presents one of the aspects of the working theme of the Kharkiv team of the Fusilli project, namely, a general overview of the concept and phenomenon of food inequality as one of the forms of manifestation of general social inequality, as a process that outlines unequal and uneven access for different groups in different periods of time to benefits and resources necessary for the full reproduction of vital forces and provision of opportunities for personal development. Food inequality is problematized as a concept necessary to describe and explain the state of the city of Kharkiv under the conditions of a full-scale invasion at three stages: (1) the availability of food products as such in the Kharkiv region; (2) access to goods, that is, the very possibility of purchasing goods in one or another quantity and quality; (3) use of the goods, which are related to the possibility of consumption of the necessary goods. The concept and phenomenon of food inequality is correlated with other forms of social inequality, and an instrumental definition of the main causes and manifestations of food inequality is proposed. A general assessment of the state of food inequality in Ukraine is given and preliminary results of the author's sociological research are given. The article also reviews international, national and local initiatives aimed at solving the problem of food inequality, in particular the policies of central and local authorities, grant programs from foreign companies, the activities of local and international public, volunteer and charitable organizations. The authors come to the conclusion that the possibilities of solving the problem of food security exclusively by economic means and tools are limited, since it is a complex problem that requires a systematic solution involving not only economic, but also political, ecological, cultural, informational, etc. levers.

South African Food Studies

Abstract Introducing a special issue of Matatu titled “South African Food Studies,” this essay argues for the importance of food as a lens for understanding contemporary culture and society. More specifically, the essay advocates for recentring Global South contexts—in this case South Africa—in a ‘food studies’ conversation that has often been dominated by the American academy; it also underscores the vitality of the humanities, qualitative social sciences, and creative arts for transcending reductive ‘food security’ paradigms often applied in the Global South. The essay first examines the short story “Water No Get Enemy” by South African writer Fred Khumalo, introducing how a focus on food and eating can illuminate globalisation, xenophobia, resource conflict, and environmental change. From here, the authors introduce the evolving field of ‘food studies,’ then outline the eight academic, personal, and creative pieces that constitute this special issue, all authored by contributors from the African continent. Issues raised include the gendered and queer politics of food, breastmilk, and soil; the ongoing coloniality of neoliberal approaches to food inequality; the burdening of Black bodies; the role of so-called ‘ethnic restaurants’ in building transnational and multi-ethnic communities; and the heightened stakes of food access during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Farm sustainability: a veterinary perspective

Background: Our planet is facing a catastrophic environmental crisis caused by climate change (with greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture accounting for around 10 per cent of the UK's total emissions), biodiversity collapse, species extinctions, food inequality and resource scarcity.Aim of the article: Farming is coming ever more under the spotlight for its environmental credentials and this article aims to explore the contribution of vets to the challenges ahead.

Pluralist Ethnobiology: Between Philosophical Reflection and Transdisciplinary Action

In the introduction to this special issue on ethnobiology and philosophy, we consider how the included papers show that ethnobiology is an inherently pluralist project that has a unique potential to foster inter- and transdisciplinary perspectives on issues such as the complex multispecies relations between humans and non-humans that one finds in livelihood practices such as farming and fishing, in conservation management, or in industrial resource extraction, which need to be addressed to deal with planetary challenges from climate change to food inequality. We also argue that a pluralist ethnobiology moves beyond priority disputes between different disciplines by recognizing that its foundations are inherently diverse but still embraces intellectual synthesis that brings insights from various fields together. We provide, finally, an overview of the contributions to the special issue.

Just Desserts: The Morality of Food Waste in America

AbstractFood, waste, and food waste are embroiled in a wide array of political and moral debates in the United States today. These debates are staged across a range of scales and sites—from individual decisions made in front of refrigerators and compost bins to public deliberations on the U.S. Senate and House floors. They often manifest as a moral panic inspiring a range of Americans at seemingly opposed ends of the political spectrum. This article contrasts three distinct sites where food waste is moralized, with the aim of deconstructing connections between discarded food and consumer ethics. In doing so, we argue that across the contemporary American social strata, food waste reduction efforts enfold taken‐for‐granted ideas of moral justice, or theodicy, that foreground individual responsibility and, as a result, obfuscate broader systemic issues of food inequality perpetuated by late stage capitalism.

“I Have Become a Food Inequality Prophet”: An Analysis of a Community-Engaged, Food-Focused Course

“I Have Become a Food Inequality Prophet”: An Analysis of a Community-Engaged, Food-Focused Course

A CARTOGRAPHY OF FOOD INEQUALITY IN SOUTHERN LIMA: Common cooking pots, Female agency and Neighborhood relations in times of Covid-19

RESUMEN En este trabajo estudiamos las relaciones vecinales observadas en torno a la organización de las ollas comunes en los asentamientos humanos de La Nueva Rinconada (Lima, Perú), durante la pandemia de Covid-19. Organizadas por madres de familia vecinas, las ollas comunes constituyen núcleos de cocina y alimentación autónomos y comunitarios, que emergen con el propósito de sostener la alimentación vecinal en un contexto de desigualdad socioeconómica y condiciones de precariedad urbana. Las mujeres que dedican su tiempo y trabajo a las ollas comunes, despliegan en ellas conocimientos situados desde su posición como mujeres, madres y migrantes, en su mayoría de origen Quechua. Además, despliegan prácticas de cuidado colectivo que dan lugar a lazos significativos cruciales para la organización de las ollas comunes. Asimismo, revisamos las diferencias básicas entre ollas comunes y comedores populares en tanto experiencias de agencia femenina alimentaria, con distinto grado de articulación con el Estado peruano. Finalmente, enfocamos el rol del Estado-nación peruano en la reproducción de la desigualdad alimentaria.

Unhealthy Inequalities: A Discussion on the Intersection of Health, Racism and Food Inequality for Black Americans and How Rights Based Laws Can Promote Health Equity and Social Justice

Unhealthy Inequalities: A Discussion on the Intersection of Health, Racism and Food Inequality for Black Americans and How Rights Based Laws Can Promote Health Equity and Social Justice

Dehydration: An efficient process for ensuring food conservation in vulnerable regions

Approximately 860 million people throughout the world currently live in extreme hunger and poverty due to income reductions, unemployment, and layoffs from the COVID-19 pandemic, all of which disproportionately affect disadvantaged homes (Unated Nations, 2022). One of the objectives of the World Bank (2022) for 2030 is to end extreme poverty and promote shared prosperity. In Mexico, there are 55.7 million people in poverty, extreme poverty, high or very high marginalization, and vulnerable situations on account of lack of food, healthcare, housing, and employment (CONEVAL, 2020). However, there is no immediate solution to rid the world of poverty and food shortage. In this project, we propose to combat the issue of poverty and food inequality with a system for conserving food that takes advantage of the solar energy available in the most disadvantaged and marginalized regions. The solar dehydration used to naturally dry fruits, vegetables, and animal proteins after the harvest will contribute to the food supply, do no harm to the environment, and create an alternative job source.

Food inequality: One part of a much larger problem [Book review

First paragraph: In 2014, researchers ascribed the growing nutrit­ional inequality in America to two factors: the price of wholesome foods and geographic inaccessibility for families living in food deserts (Wang et al., 2014). Priyah Fielding-Singh believed that the causes had to be much more complex than that. As a doctoral student in sociology at Stanford University, she conducted an ethnographic study that involved interviewing 160 parents and children and extensively observing four families. Her findings, reported in How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America, reveal the complexity of causes, as she was expecting, of growing nutritional inequality. She also addresses the need to see food inequality as one intercon­nected facet of socioeconomic inequality rather than as a standalone problem. . . .

Inequality in Food Consumption and Diet Diversity: Evidence from Turkey

Hunger is one of the devastating problems in the world. More than eight hundred million people are undernourished. However, hunger is one part of the food security problem. In addition to the undernourished people, two billion people have also health problems due to overweight, and obesity. Therefore, the topic of food security needs to be discussed in the context of consumption distribution. This paper estimates food consumption inequality in Turkey. Using more than 150 thousand households’ monthly expenditures, it shows how food inequality changes throughout 2003-2017. In addition to food consumption inequality, we estimate diet diversity inequality and show the impact of income on it. Our study finds that food consumption inequality increased after the food crisis of 2007. Food consumption inequality is mostly intensified in rural areas. We do not find any differentiated effects of income, education, and employment. Rich households have a more diversified diet than poor households. However, diet diversity increased for all households, especially in the last five years. Income has a negative impact on diet diversity in rich households, positive impact in poor households. Therefore, income decreases diet diversity inequality. Our results show the importance of food distribution in the discussion of food security policies.

Review of: How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food and Inequality in America

How the Other Half Eats: The Untold Story of Food Inequality in America joins the ranks of a flourishing sociological scholarship that examines how food is implicated in the (re)production of inequality. Drawing on data from one hundred and sixty interviews with parents and teens and ethnographic participant observations with four racially and economically diverse families living on the US West Coast, Fielding-Singh offers readers her “earnest attempt to expose and explore a largely hidden truth: that parents across society undertake sacrificial, complicated, and frustrating work to feed kids.” The book is a compelling read, in part because Fielding-Singh—a biracial, second-generation South Asian American woman having grown up eating well, but also eating “junk”—chooses to write herself into the story. In the preface she notes, “For a scientist there can be safety in hiding behind a third-person voice and vulnerability in exposing one’s own subjectivity through a first-person narrative.” The author chooses the latter, chronicling the birth of her first child, the way she ate growing up, and her family’s experiences fostering children. Fielding-Singh acknowledges the advantages and limits of her point of view, and in doing so encourages the reader to see her rendering of her reserach participants' lives as thoughtful, and ultimately fair and balanced.

Effects of Monetary Policy on Food Inequality in India

Food insecurity and hunger are significant components of standard poverty measures and continue to be pressing issues in emerging market economies. However, these issues have received less attention in examining the indirect effects of monetary policy. In this paper, we study the impact of monetary policy on food inequality in India. Specifically, we examine the impact of monetary policy shocks on relative food prices and the distribution of food consumption, focusing on subsistence food consumption of poor households. Using the most recent household survey data, we estimate the dynamic effects of monetary policy shocks on relative food prices and the distribution of food consumption in rural and urban India using a dynamic common factor model. Our results show that expansionary monetary policy shocks increase the relative price of food, reduce the food consumption of poor households, and raise food consumption inequality across households. Increase in the relative price of food following a monetary expansion disproportionately hurts the poor relative to the non-poor. This is the first study to provide evidence of a ‘food price channel’ in monetary policy transmission to understand food inequality. This study holds important policy implications for Indian central bankers and policymakers as well as for those in similar emerging market economies.

Tackling Food Inequality with Food Justice Approach: Challenges of Alternative Food Movements in Building Sustainable and Just Food System in Japan

Tackling Food Inequality with Food Justice Approach: Challenges of Alternative Food Movements in Building Sustainable and Just Food System in Japan

Urban environment and dietary behaviours as perceived by residents living in socioeconomically diverse neighbourhoods: A qualitative study in a Mediterranean context

Scholars have determined that low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with unhealthy dietary behaviours and that local food environments shape food inequality. Less is known about how residents' perceptions of their food environment affect their dietary behaviours. We conducted 37 semistructured interviews and 29 focus groups in three socioeconomically distinct neighbourhoods in Madrid. We identified the following main categories related to social and physical food environments: (a) perceptions of healthy and unhealthy dietary behaviours, (b) children's relationships with food, (c) precariousness and (d) residential food retailer types. Older adults were perceived as healthier consumers, whereas younger people were identified as fast-food consumers. In the low- and middle-SES neighbourhoods, residents saw home-cooked legume-based stews as healthy food. In the high-SES neighbourhood, television cooking programs were highlighted as a positive influence. In the low- and middle-SES neighbourhoods, grandparents played an essential role in the transmission of healthy eating habits to their grandchildren. In the high-SES neighbourhood, children's diets at home were determined by school menus. In the low- and middle-SES neighbourhoods, participants talked about a black market where food could be purchased. Food retailers with low-quality foods were also highlighted. In all neighbourhoods, residents missed traditional food stores, and in the low- and middle-SES neighbourhoods, immigrant-run food stores were not well accepted. Our study presents the concepts shaping how neighbourhood SES differences affect dietary behaviours according to residents of a large Mediterranean city.

Applying Community-Based system Dynamics to Address Food Insecurity in Non-Remote Indigenous Populations in Australia

Abstract Objectives There is a growing crisis of hunger and food inequality among Indigenous people in Australia who are increasingly urbanized. They experience substantially higher rates of food insecurity than the general population which impacts on diet-sensitive chronic disease risk and life expectancy. This project aimed to apply systems tools to identify systemic challenges to achieving food security and possible local actions to address the problem in two large Aboriginal communities. Methods A qualitative system dynamics method used group model building (GMB) in two regional and outer urban communities involving participants from Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services, food relief charities, council, educational groups and some food industry partners in the two local areas. The GMB enabled the participants to consider all the connections between contributing factors, feedback and reinforcing loops to produce a map of food insecurity linked to the local food system. This project was done in collaboration with the Study of Environment of Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health (SEARCH), Australia's largest cohort study into the health of urban Aboriginal children. Results The GMB workshops resulted in causal loop diagrams that mapped the complexities of the food insecurity challenge. The maps highlighted the impact of low incomes and unemployment that influenced the communities’ ability to budget and afford healthy food, thereby leading to a reliance on convenience food outlets. This, in turn, influenced communities’ healthy food preferences, which negatively impacted on food security. Additionally, community education around healthy food choices, meal planning and financial literacy were factors that also directly impacted food security. A distinct loop reflected that a lack of coordination between agencies was leading to duplication and confusion about available food relief services and the ability to access these services. Conclusions These analyses elicited local understanding of the potential levers within the system to address food insecurity in Indigenous people. They are being used to develop community-level workplans to shift the high prevalence of food insecurity and its longer-term impact on preventable chronic disease. Funding Sources This work was funded by the Australian Prevention Partnership Centre and the Sax Institute, Sydney.

Recorrido por las acciones de las organizaciones civiles de derechos humanos en América Latina

Durante el siglo XXI, la sociedad civil ha tenido un rol fundamental en la lucha por la garantía de los Derechos Humanos (DDHH). Este escrito se enfoca en describir y analizar el accionar de las Organizaciones de la Sociedad Civil (OSC) en pro de garantizar la protección de los DDHH. El eje del análisis estuvo en América Latina, a través del estudio de variables como: seguridad alimentaria, erradicación de la pobreza y la desigualdad, lucha por los derechos de las mujeres y erradicación de la violencia. Este análisis permite visibilizar el aporte de las OSC latinoamericanas a la población vulnerable en la región.

Climate and food inequality: the South African Food Sovereignty Campaign response

ABSTRACTThis article focuses on climate and food inequalities while highlighting food sovereignty responses. It provides an analysis of climate inequalities ramifying through the world today. At the same time, food inequality is conceptually clarified as a counter approach to food security. It is argued that food inequality is consistent with the case for food sovereignty. Moreover, the combination of climate and food inequalities also highlight the complexity of climate crises and the challenges they pose for food regimes. The article further highlights the emergence of the food sovereignty response and systemic alternative. Taking this further is a case study of the transformative politics of the South African Food Sovereignty Campaign and its constitutive approach to various forms of power from below.

ENVIRONMENTAL PERCEPTION OF CLIMATE CHANGE PERCEIVED BY UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ON VEGETARIAN BEHAVIORAL INTENTION

With the rapid rise of global temperatures and the negative effects of greenhouse gases, the destruction of natural resources and unlimited development is rapidly endangering the earth. The inefficient use of meat-based agriculture has contributed to contemporary concerns about environmental degradation and global food inequality. Therefore, the research attempted to establish a theoretical model to predict and explain the effects of health risks on vegetarian behavioral intention under climate change. The research investigated the vegetarian behavioral intention of university students derived from environmental perception, environmental attitude, and health risk perception. The research involved six universities in Taiwan, with a total of about 25,000 university students. A total of 1050 replies was received from the questionnaires, were carefully revised and all items were confirmed. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and Smart PLS data analysis were used to find the applicability of the survey data and the research model. The results showed that personality traits, health risk perception, and environmental value positively influence vegetarian behavioral intention. The model facilitated the evaluation of the variables related to environmental responsibility and behavior and could serve as a reference for policy decision-makers and teaching staff in terms of sustainable education. Keywords: climate change, environmental attitude, environmental perception, healthy risk perception, vegetarian diet.

Food Inequality, Injustice, and Rights.

As humanity continues to grow in size, questions related to human rights and the existing unequal distribution of food resources have taken on greater urgency. Is inequality in food access unjust or a regrettable consequence of the geographic distribution of biophysical resources? To what extent are there obligations to redress inequalities in access to food? We draw from a human rights perspective to identify obligations associated with access to food and develop a quantitative framework to evaluate the fulfillment of the human right to food. We discuss the capacity of socioeconomic development to reduce inequalities in per capita food availability with respect to the distribution of biophysical resources among countries. Although, at the country level, international trade shows the capacity to reduce human rights deficits by increasing food availability in countries with limited food production, whether it actually improves the fulfillment of the right to food will depend on within-country inequality.