A community-based participatory research approach to understanding social eating for food well-being [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations]
‘Social eating initiatives’ are framed as a specific type of community-based food service that provides opportunities for people to eat together in local spaces using surplus food. These initiatives provide a meal that is fresh, affordable and more environmentally friendly than fast or convenience f...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Emerald Publishing
2022-06-01
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| Series: | Emerald Open Research |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://emeraldopenresearch.com/articles/3-11/v2 |
| _version_ | 1797996551691304960 |
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| author | Marsha Smith Nadina R Luca Sally Hibbert |
| author_facet | Marsha Smith Nadina R Luca Sally Hibbert |
| author_sort | Marsha Smith |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ‘Social eating initiatives’ are framed as a specific type of community-based food service that provides opportunities for people to eat together in local spaces using surplus food. These initiatives provide a meal that is fresh, affordable and more environmentally friendly than fast or convenience foods. In this research, we build upon the food well-being model to explore how food consumption is experienced in these community settings and the role of social eating projects in shaping the different dimensions of people’s foodscapes. We adopted a community-based participatory approach and engaged in a series of dialogues with staff volunteers and coordinators at four ‘social eating initiatives’. We also conducted 45 interviews with service users and volunteers at three sites in the Midlands region. The role of community-based food initiatives responding to hunger by utilising surplus food to feed local populations is often conceptualised critically. However, closer attention to the experiences of staff, volunteers and customers at these spaces, reveals them as sites where knowledge and experience of food is being developed with this contributing to a sense of well-being beyond nutrition. Shared food practices and eating together contribute to social capital and are important dimensions of food well-being that are significantly restricted by food insecurity. The ‘food well-being’ model envisages a shift in focus from health, defined as the absence of illness, towards well-being as a positive relationship with food at the individual and societal level. In the concluding remarks of this article, it is suggested that this holistic conception is required to understand the role and function of social eating initiatives. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T10:19:08Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1b698e8e359b4763a91a430470ac516e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2631-3952 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T10:19:08Z |
| publishDate | 2022-06-01 |
| publisher | Emerald Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Emerald Open Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-1b698e8e359b4763a91a430470ac516e2022-12-22T04:29:48ZengEmerald PublishingEmerald Open Research2631-39522022-06-01315809A community-based participatory research approach to understanding social eating for food well-being [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations]Marsha Smith0Nadina R Luca1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3757-6340Sally Hibbert2Centre for Business in Society (CBiS), Coventry University, Coventry, CV1 5FB, United KingdomYork Management School, University of York, UK, York, Yorkshire, YO10 5GD, United KingdomNottingham University Business School, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG8 1BB, United Kingdom‘Social eating initiatives’ are framed as a specific type of community-based food service that provides opportunities for people to eat together in local spaces using surplus food. These initiatives provide a meal that is fresh, affordable and more environmentally friendly than fast or convenience foods. In this research, we build upon the food well-being model to explore how food consumption is experienced in these community settings and the role of social eating projects in shaping the different dimensions of people’s foodscapes. We adopted a community-based participatory approach and engaged in a series of dialogues with staff volunteers and coordinators at four ‘social eating initiatives’. We also conducted 45 interviews with service users and volunteers at three sites in the Midlands region. The role of community-based food initiatives responding to hunger by utilising surplus food to feed local populations is often conceptualised critically. However, closer attention to the experiences of staff, volunteers and customers at these spaces, reveals them as sites where knowledge and experience of food is being developed with this contributing to a sense of well-being beyond nutrition. Shared food practices and eating together contribute to social capital and are important dimensions of food well-being that are significantly restricted by food insecurity. The ‘food well-being’ model envisages a shift in focus from health, defined as the absence of illness, towards well-being as a positive relationship with food at the individual and societal level. In the concluding remarks of this article, it is suggested that this holistic conception is required to understand the role and function of social eating initiatives.https://emeraldopenresearch.com/articles/3-11/v2social eating initiatives community food food insecurity food waste surplus community-based participatory researcheng |
| spellingShingle | Marsha Smith Nadina R Luca Sally Hibbert A community-based participatory research approach to understanding social eating for food well-being [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations] Emerald Open Research social eating initiatives community food food insecurity food waste surplus community-based participatory research eng |
| title | A community-based participatory research approach to understanding social eating for food well-being [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations] |
| title_full | A community-based participatory research approach to understanding social eating for food well-being [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations] |
| title_fullStr | A community-based participatory research approach to understanding social eating for food well-being [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations] |
| title_full_unstemmed | A community-based participatory research approach to understanding social eating for food well-being [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations] |
| title_short | A community-based participatory research approach to understanding social eating for food well-being [version 2; peer review: 1 approved, 2 approved with reservations] |
| title_sort | community based participatory research approach to understanding social eating for food well being version 2 peer review 1 approved 2 approved with reservations |
| topic | social eating initiatives community food food insecurity food waste surplus community-based participatory research eng |
| url | https://emeraldopenresearch.com/articles/3-11/v2 |
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