The literature contains few examples examining how the opening of a grocery store in a food desert affects the experience of food security of those living in that food environment. Station 20 West (S20W) is a community enterprise centre that opened in Fall 2012 in Saskatoon’s inner city, significantly changing the foodscape of a former food desert. S20W includes the Good Food Junction grocery store (GFJ), community kitchen space, a café, community meeting space, and community organization, health region and university offices. This project investigates the experience of food security for participants in a collective kitchen (CK) at S20W. Using semi-participant observation and responsive interviews, data was collected using phenomenology to learn about participants’ food procurement experiences, their involvement in CKs, and their interaction with S20W organizations and other health-based organizations. This research illuminates the complexity of food [in]security; participants’ lived experiences of food [in]security were intertwined with their health and that of their families. Several participants came to the CK seeking socialization and friendship rather than increased food security. Most participants interviewed were not inner city residents, so their foodscapes were not changed by the opening of the GFJ. However, the S20W CK is a potential gateway to other organizations and services at S20W, and cross-promotion of programs, services, and the GFJ could increase their impact. Further research should explore the changes over time in the foodways of those who interact with S20W, to understand the longer-term effects of a food store opening in a former food desert.

This thesis examines the everyday realisation of rights in India’s school-feeding programme, the Midday Meal Scheme. The commitment to realising the right to food in India is well-established. In 2001, a petition to the Supreme Court and subsequent orders made existing food-based schemes (including the Midday Meal Scheme) a legal entitlement under a right to food. These schemes then became the core components of the National Food Security Act in 2013. In consequence, eligible children in India have a right to a MDM that adheres to specific guidelines and have a broader right to food. Despite these commitments to rights, the extent to which India’s food-based social protection schemes reflect a rights-based approach has not, hitherto, been explored. Indeed, although the importance of state-led, rights-based social protection schemes to address food insecurity is now widely recognised, the relationship between these means and ends has been insufficiently explored. In this context, drawing on nearly one year of mixed-methods research in the Indian state of Rajasthan, I examine the extent to which India’s Midday Meal Scheme adheres to a rights-based approach to realising food security. To do so, I examine three components of a rights-based system in the context of the scheme: rights-holders and their entitlements; duty-bearers and their duties; and the mechanisms through which duty-bearers can be held to account for the non-fulfilment of their obligations. I draw on detailed field research in two districts to show that, in its present form, the scheme is limited from the perspective of rights. Not all those in need are necessarily included in the scheme; the food that rights- holders receive often does not meet their needs, duty-bearers fail to adequately fulfil their duties; and accountability mechanisms fail to hold them accountable. Consequently, rights-holders often do not receive their entitlements and the right to food remains unfulfilled. Overall, I show that the realisation of rights to depends on the capabilities of rights-holders to realise their rights and on the capacity and motivation of duty-bearers to fulfil their duties.

Thesis (M.Sc. (Dietetics)) -- University of Limpopo, 2023 / Introduction: Nutritional knowledge is essential for selecting healthy and nutritious meals. However, access to consistent, adequate and nutritious food was unattainable for university students, despite the fact that food was considered a human basic right. Food insecurity is a real issue in South African universities, but it is poorly documented. Numerous studies have used one approach to measure food insecurity rates in various universities, either quantitative or qualitative. There is a scarcity of data on food insecurity among students in institutions of higher learning in Limpopo Province. Food insecure students used a variety of coping mechanisms such as, borrowing money, buying cheap food, skipping meals, sharing food, and reducing portion size in order to cope with food insecurity. The goal of the study was to investigate the level of nutrition knowledge, food insecurity, and coping strategies among students at the School of Health Care Sciences. at the University of Limpopo, South Africa. Methodology: The explanatory sequential mixed-method approach was used in this study. The quantitative survey employed convenience sampling, with 237 undergraduate participants from the Health Care Sciences. Nutritional knowledge was assessed using a multiple-choice questionnaire adapted from the Perlstein study. Food security status was assessed using the eight (8) questions from Food Insecurity Experience Scale. Fourteen purposefully selected in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted to explore life experiences and coping strategies of food-insecure students. Statistical analysis was performed using STATA version 11.0, Fischer’s exact test to test the association between food insecurity and nutritional knowledge with regards to age, gender and study level and thematic analysis for the qualitative data. Findings: Students were on average 21 years old, in level II and level III years of study. Fifteen percent (n=36) had poor nutritional knowledge, 69% (n=164) had moderate nutrition knowledge, and 14.7% (n=35) had good nutritional knowledge. Both males and females in the current study had a fair amount of dietary knowledge. Twenty-four percent (n=57) experienced moderate food insecurity and 16% (n=37) had severe food insecurity. The rate of food insecurity in the study exceeded the national rate. Lack of budgeting skills, delayed distribution of bursary money, unforeseen costs, and household obligations were among the factors that aided in food insecurity. Food-insecure students applied numerous coping mechanisms, such as borrowing money from friends, sharing food, buying cheap food, and cutting portion sizes. The study found a significant association between a study level and nutrition knowledge with a P-value of 0.02 for both study levels less than and more than two years. Six themes emerged from interviews with food-insecure students i.e., coping strategies, nutrition knowledge, hunger and academic effect, competing expenses, health triangle and contributing factors to lack of money to buy food. Conclusion: This study provided insight into the food insecurity levels and the nutritional knowledge of the students in the Health Care Sciences at the University of Limpopo. It further offered an understanding of how students experienced food insecurity and the various coping mechanisms employed to deal with the situation. The rate of food insecurity in the study exceeded the national rate. Nutrition education programmes and interventions that address food insecurity are important and the strengthening of existing support systems to ensure that students cope and succeed in their studies. Future research is needed to cover a large scale of students.

The correlation between food insecurity and conflict has previously been studied and established in multiple studies. Furthermore, additional research has found linkages allying increased levels of female political participation and the de-escalation of conflict. Despite these facts, there are to date no studies examining whether female inclusion in peace processes has an effect on hunger. Thus, this dissertation addresses the relationship between female signatories’ presence in peace processes and food insecurity. Food insecurity is operationalized as prevalence of undernourishment, and female inclusion in peace negotiations is measured by the presence of female signatories in such processes. The study’s main conceptual claim is based on gaps found in previous literature, and argues that a higher level of female participants in peace processes leads to a lower level of food insecurity. The claim is evaluated in a quantitative statistical analysis, using data on food insecurity from the FAOSTAT Data for Food Security Indicators​, and incorporating statistics on female inclusion in peace negotiations from the ​Replication Data for Women’s Participation in Peace Negotiations and the Durability of Peace​. The analysis illustrates food insecurity’s dissemination in post-conflict societies and gender dispersals within peace negotiations, in order to demonstrate an existing correlation. Built on results from an ordinary least squares regression, the study confirms that higher presence of female signatories in peace processes decreases the likelihood of food insecurity in post-conflict societies.

Agroterrorism is the deliberate introduction of a plant or animal disease with thegoal of causing fear, economic instability, illness, or death. After the 2002 terroristattacks on the World Trade Center, the security of the food supply is of increasingconcern to the United States. A major incidence of agroterrorism or food tampering would have far reaching impacts on the economy and public health. The first objective of this project was to determine knowledge and concern of agroterrorism in meat processing facilities in Kentucky, and to determine knowledge and concern of food tampering and food defense in food service establishments in Warren County, Kentucky. The second objective was to determine security strategies that were being implemented by these facilities. Two separate surveys, one for meat processors and the other for food service establishments, were designed to meet these objectives. An observational study was conducted for meat processing facilities. It was found that these facilities were generally unconcerned with agroterrorism, although a reasonable amount of security implementations were in place at these facilities. A statistical comparison between restaurants and non-restaurant food service establishments, such as schools, hospitals, and hotels, was performed. Both types of food service establishments expressed little concern about a food tampering event. Non- restaurant food service establishments were slightly more concerned than restaurants about both food tampering and food defense.

La recherche qui suit porte sur l’expérience du jardinage communautaire à Montréal à partir de l’exemple de l’un des arrondissements. Au cours des dernières années, à l’échelle globale, la popularité des jardins communautaires est allée en grandissant. Comment interpréter cela à partir du point de vue des participants? Quelle est l’expérience vécue par les jardiniers communautaires et quelle signification accordent-ils à ces pratiques sociales? Afin de répondre à ces questions, j’ai fait appel à une démarche qualitative, combinant l’observation et entretiens en profondeur avec des participants. Les résultats de l’étude découlent de 30 entretiens semi-directifs. Des participants avec des profils sociaux divers ont été recrutés. En faisant appel à la théorie ancrée, la recherche met en lumière des contextes spécifiques à partir desquels les jardiniers communautaires fournissent des significations à leur engagement dans ce type de jardinage. Considérée à partir de trois dimensions – économique, sociale et culturelle – cette étude met en lumière le fait que les significations que les acteurs accordent à leurs pratiques dépendent du contexte, mais découlent aussi de leur subjectivité. Ressort aussi l’importance de la dimension émotionnelle. Le jardinage communautaire est décrit sous l’angle d’une pratique transformatrice – en convergence avec d’autres formes d’action collective – qui permet aux citoyens en tant que jardiniers de mieux faire face aux défis de la vie quotidienne, que ce soit sur le plan financier, social, culturel ou environnemental. Par le biais du jardinage, les participants soutiennent qu’ils approfondissent leur identité personnelle, tout en construisant de nouvelles relations avec les autres ainsi qu’avec la nature. La recherche confirme qu’en ce qui concerne l’expérience subjective de jardinage, les participants parlent de retombées positives. / The present research addresses the subjectivity of the community gardening experience in the case of a Montreal borough. Community gardens have regained popularity worldwide. How to interpret this phenomenon from the perspective of participants? And how do they experience (community) gardening and make sense of their social practices? To answer these questions, this study takes a qualitative approach that combines observations and in-depth interviews. The findings drawn from this study are based mainly on 30 semi-structured interviews. Participants from diverse social strata were recruited. Guided by grounded theory, this research stresses the specific contexts under which community gardeners generate meanings from their community gardening experience. Examined from three dimensions – economic, social, and cultural – this study reveals that meanings and significance are context-sensitive, personalized, and fluid. The emotional dimension emerges as of particular importance. Community gardening is viewed as a transformative practice – converging with diverse forms of collective action – that allows citizen gardeners to address everyday life challenges, whether financial, social, cultural, or environmental. Through gardening, participants claim that they are reconnecting with themselves, with other people, and with nature. This research confirms that with respect to the subjective experience of gardening, participants generally claim positive outcomes.