Food Justice
A recent literature and mind map on food justice and food as a human right.
This semester I am enrolled in my final ECON class to complete my Economics minor: Economics of Food. As much as I enjoy eating and preparing food, I have become more and more interested in the ways my food gets to my plate.
This course has forced me to confront the nuanced ways in which policy, history, human rights, behavioral economics, and more make up our foodscapes. I have always been interested in the ways food connect people and the stories they tell. As you can tell by my elaborate 22nd birthday dinner menu embedded below—food has taught me so many things about the countries I’ve visited.
But beyond the plate, there is more to understand. Below is an incomplete list of resources touching on topics such as diet, behavioral economics, the climate crisis, and much more.
Diet & Behavioral Economics
Most conversations surrounding food begin with justice. I believe food is deeply personal. Conversations about diet can disregard cultural appropriate foods, food and health (body image/disordered eating/shame), and access to time and income.
Things like National Dietary Guidelines and suggestive eating habits on consumption, are conversations I am still trying to explore. I am weary of tools that place the burden of good, “sustainable” eating on people without fully analyzing the colonial, patriarchal, and competing economic interests that tie into the choices of our food sets. I am also weary of conversations that spend time on what we eat and not equally on how much we eat (food waste and the devaluing of food).
This report by EAT Forum “investigates current food consumption patterns and the efficacy of national dietary guidelines in G20 countries compared to the Planetary Health Diet. Through it, G20 countries are presented with clear opportunities to lead reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and realize the health and related economic benefits of shifting toward more healthy and sustainable diets.”
The 7 Critical Points synthesis the report nicely.
Economics is an incredible tool— specifically behavioral economics. This field allows economists to understand the humanness and nuance of decision making through tools of psychology and behavior. A common behavioral tactic is forming policy around mind and sensory techniques- for example, moving veggies to the front of a buffet line or making default sides for meals into healthier plant based options. Below a panel discusses the tactics people use to nudge different consumer choices.
Here is the full slide from the panel discussion to the left. It discusses the conception behind Default Veg: Concept: Offer plant based meals by default and give diners a choice to add meat or dairy upon request. That’s it! Simple: Easy for catering, conferences, and dining facilities. Inclusive: The majority of people can eat plant-based meals. Cost effective: Cost neutral or cost savings. Significant impact: Increase plant based meals served by 40% + while reducing CO2 emissions.
For more articles/literature on behavioral economics see below:
This article explores eating behavior and anti-obesity policy through a difference-in difference regression model.
This article measures caloric intake, obesity, and consumer choices through behavioral economic tools such as choice architecture, understanding food environments and behavioral biases (such as visceral factors/cues, “present-biased” preferences, status quo bias and default options), the effect/impact of menu labeling, front-of-package labeling, nutrition labeling, and food marketing.
Finally, this article is a really good example of what food policy should not look like- creating systems of shame, triggered eating habits, and polices of punishment.
2. History
What are the historical and colonial implications that make up our food choices, identity, and access? From farmers to grocery shoppers, if you are a person of color there has been a history of negligence, assimilation, theft, and white supremacy that has had an impact on why our communities look the way do.
This article explores the history of land grabbing for Black American farmers in the South— and, how every system from financial institutions, to the process of voting, has been used to disenfranchise our right to own land, hand it down to our families, and grow food for our communities.
After reading the article I recommend listening to the ‘1619’ podcast episode part 1 and 2, called “The Land of Our Fathers”. (Description: 150 years after the promise of 40 acres and a mule, the story of black land ownership in America remains one of dispossession. The Provosts, who trace their family to the enslaved workers on Louisiana’s sugar-cane plantations, know this story well. Released on Oct. 4, 2019.)
It would be impossible to talk about colonialism and the devaluing of food culture and the right to culturally appropriate food, without talking about Indigenous communities. The chapter below, defines food sovereignty and food hegemony in relationship to whaling practices.
“Through these assertions of cultural and culinary imperialism people from other cultures continue to impose their own symbolic and aesthetic food values on our societies, making it difficult for Indigenous peoples to reconnect to their traditional foods. And, through their political power, wealthy Western states and NGOs influence what is acceptable as food and what animals or mammals should or should not be eaten.”
“Privileged societies have acquired the power to determine what the world eats and to impose their own symbolic and aesthetic food taboos on others.”
This chapter explores the same concepts of hegemony in regards to health and wellness.
This is an excerpt from Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass:: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants. The book is about plants and botany as seen through Native American traditions and Western scientific traditions. This On Being podcast Episode is incredible to listen to as well, to dive deeper into the meaning of sustainability.
History regarding Farming Policy
The chapter to the left, gives a history on how the agricultural industry bends the rules of market, the history of subsidies and farm bills, and explains the role of government. The article to the right explores changes to the system.
3. Food Insecurity + Access
It can be baffling to understand how for all of our victories the world has garnered, getting regularly accessible food to the people who need it is still a challenge. The factors that make of food insecurity are interconnected and ongoing: spatial inequity/dilapidated infrastructure, transportation, income, stable housing/evictions, capitalism, urban renewal, property rights, and so much more.
This 2018 report highlights 3 main findings:
The 2018 prevalence of food insecurity declined, for the first time, to the pre-recession (2007) level of 11.1 percent.
In 2018, 88.9 percent of U.S. households were food secure. The remaining 11.1 percent (14.3 million households) were food insecure. Food-insecure households (those with low and very low food security) had difficulty at some time during the year providing enough food for all their members due to a lack of resources. The decline from 2017 (11.8 percent) was statistically significant and continued a decline from a high of 14.9 percent in 2011.
In 2018, 4.3 percent of U.S. households (5.6 million households) had very low food security, not significantly different from 4.5 percent in 2017. In this more severe range of food insecurity, the food intake of some household members was reduced and normal eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year due to limited resources.
This paper combines national-level retail food availability information with data on actual purchases to determine the effect that availability of different types of food stores and income have on fruit and vegetable purchases.
This 2016 report illustrates what hunger looks like on college campuses.
This interactive story map highlights food insecurity and the unique challenges of COVID-19.
This article explores whether or not high food prices increase food insecurity in the United States.
What does food insecurity look like at the local level, and how can we combat these unique challenges?
The article below explores the economics behind food insecurity.
Mobility Strategies
4. Resiliency
COVID-19 is finally opening our eyes on how many systems we live in that just simply aren’t sustainable. Is the world we are living adaptable? Can it survive shocks to the system?
Laura Lengnick is an award-winning soil scientist with 25 years of experience working as a researcher, policymaker, educator, and farmer to put sustainability values into action in agriculture and food systems. She is the founder and principal at Cultivating Resilience, LLC, in Asheville, NC. She gave a presentation to my class, lecturing on climate change, circular and regenerative economics, and so much more.
Check out this article where she touches on the power of story, city-region food systems, and re imagining wealth.
5. Our Future
What do we have to look forward to? What changes should we be making?
The reforms on SNAP benefits and emergency food assistance have been long going. This article explores the changes that can be made to SNAP to combat limited food access.
Place-based food and knowledge systems.