Sustainability for Communities
Does Backyard Vegetable Gardening Enhance Perceived Household Food Security and Dietary Diversity?
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Julieta Dorado
The people’s rights and control over access to foods they prefer is viewed within the framework of food sovereignty approach. In this study the translation of the approach was investigated through the backyard vegetable gardening and the relationship to dietary behaviour of schoolchildren and households and perceptions on food security. The implementation of Backyard Vegetable Gardening Program (BVGP) was assessed in two Philippine provinces and the National Capital Region (NCR), covering four municipalities, two cities in the NCR and 10 barangays. Barangay is a term referring to village and it is the basic political unit in the Philippines. In-depth qualitative data were obtained on the experiences and perceptions of program participants on backyard vegetable gardening through key informant interviews and focus group discussions (FGD). Food intake of the children and the households was determined by asking about the foods consumed for the past 24-hours for two non-consecutive days, using the dietary diversity score (DDS) questionnaire. The findings show that gardening continues to be a women’s concern and it enhances the feeling of being food secure. Households with and without garden did not differ in knowledge about the importance of vegetable consumption. Unexpectedly, having vegetable garden did not affect the dietary behaviour of school children and households. The dietary diversity scores of schoolchildren and households with and without garden are equally low. The study recommends that backyard vegetable gardening program be put in more comprehensive review taking into account the annual resources allocated for it and to ensure the efficacy and sustainability of the program.
French Urban School Using Local, Sustainable Resources
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Veronique Olivier
I propose a case study on the challenge, yet successful project of a French major city's innovative tentative to offer its public school system a healthy, sustainable, and local based menu. Today's mass consumption in a globalized market makes it harder for children to know what they eat. In order to understand the city of Nantes's success, I plan to conduct research in June 2018 (I already started in December and met with some of the agents of the city hall) in a field trip with the producers, the marketing team amongst others. My objectives are: first, to introduce my research to my students in a new Freshman Foundation Course in English that reflects on globalization and ethically responsible citizen of the world, in order to make it better. My second goal is pedagogical and will involve students' field trips in the Los Angeles USD to research on how the American system fails to produce such initiatives like the Nantes Meal plan system proposes for French children. Ultimately, I plan to pursue my research on food studies within an interdisciplinary approach showing that food is still very culturally influenced by its culture in spite of globalization.
Building Sustainable Local Food Systems: Direct Marketing between Wholesale Distributors and Restaurants and Chefs
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Hiran Roy
This paper examines wholesale distributors’ (foodservice) perceptions, motivations, and constraints of selling local food products to local restaurants in a study conducted in Vancouver, Canada and Christchurch, New Zealand. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with wholesale distributors. Results reveal that restaurants and chefs are most interested in perceived tangible benefits such as freshness and higher quality of the food products, as well as more intangible motivations such as better customer services and receive fair prices while they purchase from wholesale distributors. However, interviews revealed that major concerns such as seasonality, inadequate quantity/volume, and higher prices of the food products were identified as limiting more widespread use of local food from wholesale distributors. The implications of those findings for wholesale distributors are discussed and strategies are posited to better serve the foodservice organizations.
