IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v132y2015icp38-44.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Food for thought: An ethnographic study of negotiating ill health and food insecurity in a UK foodbank

Author

Listed:
  • Garthwaite, K.A.
  • Collins, P.J.
  • Bambra, C.

Abstract

Emergency foodbanks have become an increasingly prominent and controversial feature of austerity in Europe and the USA. In the UK, foodbanks have been called a ‘public health emergency’. Despite this, there has been no UK research examining the health of foodbank users. Through an ethnographic study, this paper is the first to explore the health and health perceptions of foodbank users via a case study of Stockton-on-Tees in the North East of England, UK during a period of welfare reform and austerity. Participant observation, field notes and interviews with foodbank users and volunteers were conducted over a seventeen month period (November 2013 to March 2015) inside a Trussell Trust foodbank. Foodbank users were almost exclusively of working age, both men and women, with and without dependent children. All were on very low incomes – from welfare benefits or insecure, poorly paid employment. Many had pre-existing health problems which were exacerbated by their poverty and food insecurity. The latter meant although foodbank users were well aware of the importance and constitution of a healthy diet, they were usually unable to achieve this for financial reasons – constantly having to negotiate their food insecurity. More typically they had to access poor quality, readily available, filling, processed foods. Foodbank users are facing the everyday reality of health inequalities at a time of ongoing austerity in the UK.

Suggested Citation

  • Garthwaite, K.A. & Collins, P.J. & Bambra, C., 2015. "Food for thought: An ethnographic study of negotiating ill health and food insecurity in a UK foodbank," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 38-44.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:132:y:2015:i:c:p:38-44
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.03.019
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S027795361500163X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.03.019?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Unknown, 2014. "Media Coverage 2014," 2014: Ethics, Efficiency and Food Security: Feeding the 9 Billion, Well, 26-28 August 2014 225573, Crawford Fund.
    2. Dowler, Elizabeth A. & O’Connor, Deirdre, 2012. "Rights-based approaches to addressing food poverty and food insecurity in Ireland and UK," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(1), pages 44-51.
    3. Tarasuk, Valerie & Eakin, Joan M., 2003. "Charitable food assistance as symbolic gesture: an ethnographic study of food banks in Ontario," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(7), pages 1505-1515, April.
    4. Valerie Tarasuk & Joan Eakin, 2005. "Food assistance through “surplus” food: Insights from an ethnographic study of food bank work," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 22(2), pages 177-186, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Byrne, Anne T. & Just, David R., 2022. "Review: Private food assistance in high income countries: A guide for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    2. Andrew Williams & Paul Cloke & Jon May & Mark Goodwin, 2016. "Contested space: The contradictory political dynamics of food banking in the UK," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(11), pages 2291-2316, November.
    3. Holmes, Eleanor & Black, Jennifer L. & Heckelman, Amber & Lear, Scott A. & Seto, Darlene & Fowokan, Adeleke & Wittman, Hannah, 2018. "“Nothing is going to change three months from now”: A mixed methods characterization of food bank use in Greater Vancouver," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 129-136.
    4. Flora Douglas & Fiona MacKenzie & Ourega-Zoé Ejebu & Stephen Whybrow & Ada L. Garcia & Lynda McKenzie & Anne Ludbrook & Elizabeth Dowler, 2018. "“ A Lot of People Are Struggling Privately. They Don’t Know Where to Go or They’re Not Sure of What to Do ”: Frontline Service Provider Perspectives of the Nature of Household Food Insecurity in Scotl," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-22, December.
    5. Margo Barker & Jean Russell, 2020. "Feeding the food insecure in Britain: learning from the 2020 COVID-19 crisis," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 12(4), pages 865-870, August.
    6. Aleksey F. ROGACHEV & Anna V. SHOKHNEKH & Tamara I.MAZAEVA, 2016. "Manufacturing And Consumption Of Agricultural Products As A Tool Of Food Security Management In Russia," Revista Galega de Economía, University of Santiago de Compostela. Faculty of Economics and Business., vol. 25(2), pages 87-94.
    7. Thompson, C. & Smith, D. & Cummins, S., 2018. "Understanding the health and wellbeing challenges of the food banking system: A qualitative study of food bank users, providers and referrers in London," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 95-101.
    8. Emma Beacom & Sinéad Furey & Lynsey Hollywood & Paul Humphreys, 2021. "Conceptualising household food insecurity in Northern Ireland: risk factors, implications for society and the economy, and recommendations for business and policy response," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(5), pages 1-22, May.
    9. Oksana Borisova & Ludmila Abramova & Liliya Zageeva & Elena Popkova & Irina Morozova & Tatyana Litvinova, 2015. "Role of Agricultural Clusters in Provision of Food Security," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3), pages 287-298.
    10. Bell, Zoë & Scott, Steph & Visram, Shelina & Rankin, Judith & Bambra, Clare & Heslehurst, Nicola, 2022. "Experiences and perceptions of nutritional health and wellbeing amongst food insecure women in Europe: A qualitative meta-ethnography," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    11. Megan K. Blake, 2019. "More than Just Food: Food Insecurity and Resilient Place Making through Community Self-Organising," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-22, May.
    12. Elena Popkova & Tatiana Litvinova & Nelli Saveleva & V. Sarakhmanova & Tatiana Popova & Sergei Mayer, 2015. "Problems and Perspectives of Formation of Agricultural Clusters for Increasing Food Security of Developing Countries," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(3), pages 177-186.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Dubey, Nistha & Tanksale, Ajinkya, 2022. "A study of barriers for adoption and growth of food banks in India using hybrid DEMATEL and Analytic Network Process," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    2. Lynn McIntyre & Danielle Tougas & Krista Rondeau & Catherine L. Mah, 2016. "“In”-sights about food banks from a critical interpretive synthesis of the academic literature," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(4), pages 843-859, December.
    3. Garrone, Paola & Melacini, Marco & Perego, Alessandro, 2014. "Opening the black box of food waste reduction," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 129-139.
    4. Christian John Reynolds & Julia Piantadosi & John Boland, 2015. "Rescuing Food from the Organics Waste Stream to Feed the Food Insecure: An Economic and Environmental Assessment of Australian Food Rescue Operations Using Environmentally Extended Waste Input-Output ," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-20, April.
    5. Thompson, C. & Smith, D. & Cummins, S., 2018. "Understanding the health and wellbeing challenges of the food banking system: A qualitative study of food bank users, providers and referrers in London," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 211(C), pages 95-101.
    6. Andrew Williams & Paul Cloke & Jon May & Mark Goodwin, 2016. "Contested space: The contradictory political dynamics of food banking in the UK," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 48(11), pages 2291-2316, November.
    7. Melanie Rock & Lynn McIntyre & Krista Rondeau, 2009. "Discomforting comfort foods: stirring the pot on Kraft Dinner ® and social inequality in Canada," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 26(3), pages 167-176, September.
    8. Rombach, Meike & Bitsch, Vera, 2018. "Sector blending: evidence from the German Food Bank," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 21(2), March.
    9. Lesia Kinach & Kate Parizeau & Evan D. G. Fraser, 2020. "Do food donation tax credits for farmers address food loss/waste and food insecurity? A case study from Ontario," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(2), pages 383-396, June.
    10. Ville Tikka, 2019. "Charitable food aid in Finland: from a social issue to an environmental solution," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 36(2), pages 341-352, June.
    11. Pérez, Eduardo & Marthak, Yash V. & Méndez Mediavilla, Francis A., 2023. "Analysis and forecast of donations at domestic hunger relief organizations impacted by natural disasters," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    12. Christopher M. Bacon & Gregory A. Baker, 2017. "The rise of food banks and the challenge of matching food assistance with potential need: towards a spatially specific, rapid assessment approach," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(4), pages 899-919, December.
    13. Oliver Wagner & Thomas Adisorn & Lena Tholen & Dagmar Kiyar, 2020. "Surviving the Energy Transition: Development of a Proposal for Evaluating Sustainable Business Models for Incumbents in Germany’s Electricity Market," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-17, February.
    14. Sara A. L. Smaal & Joost Dessein & Barend J. Wind & Elke Rogge, 2021. "Social justice-oriented narratives in European urban food strategies: Bringing forward redistribution, recognition and representation," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 38(3), pages 709-727, September.
    15. Sarah Jansen & William Foster & Gustavo Anríquez & Jorge Ortega, 2021. "Understanding Farm-Level Incentives within the Bioeconomy Framework: Prices, Product Quality, Losses, and Bio-Based Alternatives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-21, January.
    16. Mohammad Reyaz, 2020. "Cyberspace in the Post-Soviet States: Assessing the Role of New Media in Central Asia," Jadavpur Journal of International Relations, , vol. 24(1), pages 7-27, June.
    17. Saad, Mohsen & Samet, Anis, 2020. "Collectivism and commonality in liquidity," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 137-162.
    18. Koon-Magnin, Sarah, 2015. "Perceptions of and support for sex offender policies: Testing Levenson, Brannon, Fortney, and Baker’s findings," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 80-88.
    19. Pantea Kamrani & Isabelle Dorsch & Wolfgang G. Stock, 2021. "Do researchers know what the h-index is? And how do they estimate its importance?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(7), pages 5489-5508, July.
    20. Afful-Dadzie, Eric & Afful-Dadzie, Anthony, 2017. "Liberation of public data: Exploring central themes in open government data and freedom of information research," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 664-672.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:132:y:2015:i:c:p:38-44. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.