The shift of food value through food banks: a case study in Kyoto, Japan

The aim of this paper is to study the diversion of food waste by food banks through an analysis of how the value of food is transformed by food banks and their recipients, from waste to things of value. Not enough research exists on the recipient’s activity after they have received food assistance from food banks. By tracking food donations from food bank collections to food recipients, this study examines the relation between people and food and how they influence the value of things—in this case, excess or unwanted food that has lost its exchange value. This research was conducted through observation of participants at food banks, food diaries, interviews with members of recipient organizations and final recipients, and a questionnaire with food assistance recipients in Kyoto, Japan. The first main point of this paper is the importance of food literacy to transform and optimize food donations into appreciated food, thereby avoiding food waste through the ingenuity of downstream actors. The second point is to uncover the shift of burden arising from the sorting, repurposing, and even discarding of the unusable portion of food donations. Above and beyond the burden of managing inconsistent and skewed food donations falls to recipient organizations and final recipients, the empirical data show that the recipient organizations and final recipients achieve this with very limited, scarce resources. Despite the difficult situation, their food literacy and creativity contribute to increasing the utilization of food donation and thereby valorizing food donations. In contrast to donor organizations, researchers have a higher standard for realizing value, so it is our critical to measure the actual conditions affecting the ultimate utilization of excess or unwanted food. By providing transparency into the effort of recipients to manage food donations, this paper highlights both the reliance on recipients’ knowledge and skill in food literacy with limited resources but also the limits of shifting the burden of waste diversion to disadvantaged groups.