Eleventh International Conference on Food Studies

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted persons’ food consumption patterns while highlighting and exacerbating existing disparities in food availability and accessibility. Using the Bourdieusian concept of capital and the Community Nutrition Environment Model, the present study explored changes in healthy and unhealthy food consumption before and during the pandemic, as well as the role of cultural capital, food availability, and accessibility. An online survey of persons residing in Trinidad and Tobago (n = 327) was conducted between July and October 2021 to investigate household availability, accessibility, and individual consumption of healthy and unhealthy food items. A series of t-tests and mediation analyses using Hayes PROCESS macro were conducted. There were significant differences in food availability, accessibility, and consumption comparing before and during the pandemic. Generally, consumption of healthy foods increased and unhealthy food items decreased. Mediation analysis revealed that objectivized cultural capital had an indirect effect on healthy food consumption, and a direct effect on unhealthy food consumption. Institutional capital did not significantly affect consumption, while incorporated cultural capital directly and indirectly predicted consumption. Significant differences in consumption were found for educational, income, and relationship status, but not for sex. While these results indicate differences in food availability, accessibility and consumption before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, they highlight the role of capital and point to the need for future studies on the ways in which the pandemic has affected multiple facets of social life.