450 research outputs found
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Food projects in London: Lessons for policy and practice - A hidden sector and the need for 'more unhealthy puddings ... sometimes'
Background and Objective: Successive governments have promoted local action to address food components of public health. This article presents findings from research commissioned by the (then) London NHS Office, scoping the range of food projects in the London area, and the potential challenges to public health practice.
Methods: Research followed four overlapping phases with a London focus: (1) a systemized review of the literature, (2) analysis of health authority Health Improvement Plans (HImPs) and Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) local implementation plans and Health Action Zone reports, (3) a scoping exercise of`food projects' and community-based participatory projects with a food focus using food databases and directories, and (4) 29 in-depth interviews with individuals responsible for commissioning and running projects.
Results: There were, in 2001/2, a variety of food projects in the London area, ranging from small-scale social enterprises to those whose turnover marked them out as small businesses. There was a significant human resource cost in maintaining and setting up such projects both from NHS staff and in terms of volunteer and paid labour. The lack of an overall or area-based approach to food policy development in London was apparent, and little thought seemed to have been given to creating a supportive policy environment. Food projects often existed as isolated entities in a borough or health authority area, with short-term funding and little systemic long-term support. The majority employed what might best be called health education approaches. This is now partially addressed by the draft London Food Strategy.
Conclusions: Food projects run by local professionals and/or volunteers operated within an isolated policy and suffered from a lack of support both from financial and human resources perspectives. The potential for long-term delivery of improved health was unrealized, as was their potential contribution to a London-wide food economy and to London food policy
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Food for Poorer People: Conventional and "Alternative" Transgressions
Lay perceptions of risk in relation to food safety and BSE in the UK: preliminary findings [Conference abstract]
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Local Booze and Brews: An Examination of the Microbrewery and Craft Distillery Industries in New York City
This study examines the microbrewery and craft distillery industries in New York City. Current state legislation passed suggests that this industry is growing, and more needs to be implemented to foster its growth. This study asks whether the microbrewery and craft distillery industry is growing within New York City, and whether there is a cluster forming which may provoke New York City to activate local legislative initiatives. The purpose of this thesis is threefold: first, to examine industry trends in NYC and the metro-area since the reemergence of microbreweries in the 1990s to present day, and the reappearance of craft distilleries in 2004 to present day; second, to analyze the effect of City and State policy on breweries/distilleries in NYC; and to further the academic conversation about economic localism and urban agglomeration economies in terms of production and distribution within the city boundaries. This thesis includes spatial analysis which identifies the significance of spatial patterns, interviews of microbrewery and craft distillery owners, and descriptive economic analysis (percent change). The interviews of the microbrewery and craft distillery owners add a qualitative layer to the data and add to the identification of factors and perceptions of legislative intervention. The economic analysis serves to identify the growth of this industry over time. The study serves as a thorough examination of a growing niche sector and will add to the current academic discourse regarding the formation of industry clusters
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A tale of two localities: Healthy Eating on a restricted income
Objective: To determine the availability and affordability of a healthy food basket and to model how those on low-incomes might manage.
Design and methodology: After determining access and availability of key items from shops in two localities, called Deepdale and Ingol, a healthy food basket was developed. From this a week’s healthy menu was devised for a mother and two children, then availability of the ingredients was checked using data collected from the shops and costed. The baskets represented the cultural preferences of White British and South Asian families informed by participatory work with both these groups. We chose the income level for a family entitled to income support and child allowance.
Results: Analysis of the availability of some healthy options such as brown bread, wholemeal pasta, and brown rice showed they were not widely available within shops in the two areas. The price of the ‘White British’ basket in the area of Ingol was £70.61 (lowest price). For comparable goods in the area of Deepdale, using the most expensive shopping basket, the price for the same basket was £42.47. A South Asian family shopping at a major supermarket outlet in Deepdale would pay £47.05. Using local shops they could pay between £38.59 and £44.28 by seeking out the best bargains in five shops (including some top-up items from a national supermarket). At the time of the research a mother with two children entitled to income support and child allowance would have to spend 28–32 per cent of her income in local shops and 34 per cent in a supermarket to buy a basket of healthy goods. This compared to the national average of 10–12 per cent of income being spent on food purchases.
Conclusions: Prices varied enormously between the two areas. Local shops in one area offered a comparable price to shopping in the supermarkets. The Ingol area, with a large white working class population, was particularly poorly served for those on low incomes and the range of choices restricted. The percentages spent on food to meet the requirements of our healthy baskets and menus show that more than the national average – in both absolute and relative terms – would have to be spent to eat healthily. For the vulnerable and price dependent poor in Preston this will mean having to spend more on food and possibly more on travel to access basics, a healthy diet will cost more, while proportionally an unhealthy diet, as can be found in fast food outlets, may not be as expensive when other costs such as cooking are taken into account. An overall rise in food prices of 5 per cent will reduce living standards among high-income consumers by approximately 3 per cent; for low-income consumers this reduction in an already poor diet could be as high as 20 per cent. What we have demonstrated is the usefulness of local studies to highlight micro-differences in relatively small areas (Preston city) and the different experiences of groups in accessing healthy foods, and thus the need to refine interventions at a local level
Greater than the sum of the parts? unpacking ethics of care within a community supported agriculture scheme
Book synopsis: Reconnecting so-called alternative food geographies back to the mainstream food system - especially in light of the discursive and material 'transgressions' currently happening between alternative and conventional food networks, this volume critically interrogates and evaluates what stands for 'food politics' in these spaces of transgression now and in the near future and addresses questions such as:
What constitutes 'alternative' food politics specifically and food politics more generally when organic and other 'quality' foods have become mainstreamed?
What has been the contribution so far of an 'alternative food movement' and its potential to leverage further progressive change and/or make further inroads into conventional systems?
What are the empirical and theoretical bases for understanding the established and growing 'transgressions' between conventional and alternative food networks?
Offering a better understanding of the evolving position of the corporate food system vis a vis alternative food networks, this book considers the prospects for economic, social, cultural and material transformations led by an increasingly powerful and legitimated alternative food network
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