Food is more than a source of nutrients and energy; it plays a significant part in all aspects of human life, including in social interactions, emotions and psychological processes.
Food has long been recognised as a powerful vehicle to express one’s identity, culture and lifestyle choices. However, several recently emerging food culture trends have raised concerns about their potential negative impacts on nutrition, health and the environment. All of these challenges can be described as ‘whole system’ issues rather than narrow single food group challenges – that have long been the focus of single-actor public health interventions. GAIN’s Food Culture Alliance programme draws on a system-based approaches to promote ongoing dialogue and interactions between actors and stakeholders from multiple sectors with the ultimate goal of triggering a gradual evolution of the food culture towards healthy and sustainable diets and an inclusive food system.
A consortium of researchers from the IDS (led by Dr Inka Barnett) in collaboration with researchers in Kenya and India is currently conducting an implementation and evaluation research study of GAIN’s Food Culture Alliance. The researchers are using a theory-based system-change approach to generate in-depth learning on how local Food Culture Alliances can be formed, effectively and productively work and start to actively contribute to addressing local food culture issues. Empirical evidence collection will include three rounds of in-depth qualitative interviews, three quantitative online surveys, several learning workshops and selected use of the programme’s own monitoring data.
Key contacts
