Thesis (MScEng)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The current food system is failing to effectively serve the urban poor. The modernisation and globalisation of the food system solves one set of problems, regarding food security, but at the same time it results in the creation of other complex challenges. Technically the food system ensures adequate food availability on a macro scale, but the structure of the system contributes to the creation of food deserts. Food deserts are areas in which there is a lack of food retail outlets where affordable, nutritious food is available. Communities living in these areas usually struggle to obtain a nutritious diet and the residents are characterised as poverty-stricken and of a poor nutritional status. The aim of this research is to support local authorities in the management and strategic planning of community food security. The research was conducted in Avian Park, a low-income community in the Breede Valley of the Western Cape, South Africa. The food retail environment of Avian Park was investigated to determine the availability and accessibility of food in the community. Furthermore, a system dynamics model was developed to identify those areas in the food system which need attention, in order to achieve greater food security. In addition strategies are suggested to improve community food security; specifically for Avian Park. These research outcomes, however, also serve as a general guideline for managing food security in low-income communities more effectively. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die huidige voedsel sisteem slaag nie daarin om arm mense in stede effektief te dien nie. Die ontwikkeling en globalisering van die voedsel sisteem los een stel probleme rondom voedselsekerheid op, maar skep terselfdetyd ander komplekse uitdagings. Tegnies verseker die voedsel sisteem die beskikbaarheid van genoegsame voedsel op 'n makro skaal, maar die struktuur van die sisteem dra by tot die ontwikkeling van “food deserts.” “Food deserts” is areas waar daar „n tekort aan voedsel kleinhandel afsetpunte is waar daar bekostigbare, voedsame kos beskikbaar is. Gemeenskappe wat in hieride areas leef sukkel gewoonlik om „n voedsame dieet te bekom en die inwoners word geken aan armoede en 'n ongewenste voedingstatus. Die doel van hierdie navorsing is om plaaslike owerhede te ondersteun om gemeenskap voedselsekerheid meer efektief te bestuur. Die navorsing was in Avian Park, „n lae-inkomste gemeensakp in die Breede Vallei van die Wes-Kaap, Suid-Afrika uitgevoer. Die voedsel kleinhandel omgewing van Avian Park is ondersoek om die voedsel beskikbaarheid en toegangklikheid te bepaal. Verder is „n “system dynamics” model ontwikkel om die areas in die voeldsel sisteem wat aandag verg, ten einde voedselsekuriteit te bekom, te identifiseer. Ten slotte word daar strategieë voorgestel om gemeenskap voeldselsekuriteit in Avian Park te verbeter. Hierdie navorsingsuitkomste dien egter ook as algemene riglyne om lae inkomste gemeenskappe se voedselsekerheid meer effektief te bestuur.

Study purpose. The study examined race and racial diversity in community gardens located in Southern urban food deserts, as well as the capacity of community gardens to generate social capital and promote social justice. Methods. A mixed-methods approach was used to describe characteristics of gardeners and community gardens located in urban food deserts, and test Social Capital Theory hypotheses. A convenience sample of 60 gardeners from 10 community gardens was obtained. Data was collected using surveys and semi-structured interviews. Analyses. Univariate and bivariate statistics were used to describe gardeners and gardens. Leader rationales for garden characteristics were analyzed using thematic analysis. Cross-level analyses were used to examine individual and organizational characteristics on gardeners’ social capital in multivariate regression models. Results. Gardeners were racially diverse across the sample; however most community gardens were racially segregated. The majority of gardeners also appeared to be middle-class. This study indicated that community gardens could indirectly enhance community food security, largely through the efforts of people of color, and less so directly as few gardeners involved were food insecure. Community gardens also exhibited limited potential to advance social justice, based on the few resources that could potentially be exchanged between gardeners. Implications. This study calls for: greater dialogue around gentrification concerns; the development of culturally appropriate engagement sensitive to historical trauma rooted in slavery; increased focus on entrepreneurial opportunities; and, obtaining the missing voices – those from non-participating low-income residents – to better understand how to create community gardens located in food deserts that benefit multiple communities.

The purpose of this study was to discover whether learning garden programs increase access to locally grown foods and successfully empower and include food insecure populations. This study examined the Oregon Food Bank's Seed to Supper program which situates garden-based learning in food insecure communities. Through a mixed-methods community-based research process, this study found that community building, learner empowerment and sustainability leadership in place-based learning garden programs increased access to locally grown foods for food insecure populations. When food insecure populations participated in these learning garden programs they often engaged in practices described in the literature as the "web of inclusion" (Helgesen, 1995). When food insecure populations were engaged in these practices, participation in food democracy and food justice increased. Additionally, participation in learning gardens led to sustainability leadership and increased access to food literacy, which led to greater community health and engaged, local community food systems.

In the United States, the community food movement has been put forward as a potential solution for a global food system that fails to provide just and equitable access to nutritious food. This claim has been subject to the criticism of a variety of scholars and activists, some of whom contend that the alternative food movement is complicit in the re-production of neoliberalism and is therefore implicated in the making of the unjust system. In this dissertation I use theories of Deleuze (and Guatarri) and science and technology scholars to enter the middle of this dichotomy. I argue that both readings of community food work, as just and unjust, rely on realist epistemologies that posit knowledge as representative of an existing reality. I alternatively view knowledge as much more contingent and plural, resulting in a multiplicity of realities that are much less fixed. The idea that reality is a product of knowledge, rather than the inverse, raises the question of how reality might be made differently, or of ontological politics. This is the question I set out to interrogate: how might the realities of community food work be read and made differently, and how this reading might open new possibilities for transformation? To explore this question, I conducted interviews with 18 individuals working for three different non-profit community food organizations in central Appalachia. I used and appreciative inquiry approach to capture stories that affected these individuals' stories about their work captured their visions and hope for food system change. I then used a (non)method, rhizoanalysis, to code the data affectively, reading for the interesting, curious, and remarkable, rather than attempting to trace a strong theory like neoliberalism onto the data. Drawing on Delueze and Guattari, I mapped excerpts from the data into four large narrative cartographies. In each cartography, the narrative excerpts are positioned to vibrate against one another; my hope is that these resonances might open lines of flight within the reader and space for new ontological possibilities. For adult and community educators, I posit this rhizoanalysis as a poststructuralist contribution to Freire's concept of the generative theme and of use to broader project of agonistic pluralism. / Ph. D.

Contexte : L’insécurité alimentaire des ménages, c’est-à-dire un accès insuffisant aux aliments découlant de contraintes financières, peut affecter la qualité de l’alimentation. Toutefois, cette association est peu étudiée chez les nouveaux demandeurs d’aide alimentaire. Objectifs : Quantifier les associations entre la sécurité alimentaire et la qualité de l’alimentation des nouveaux demandeurs d’aide alimentaire au Québec. Méthodes : Il s’agit d’une analyse de données transversales de l’étude Parcours, demander de l’aide alimentaire et après? auprès de 1001 participants interviewés entre 2018 et 2020. Le statut de sécurité alimentaire a été évalué via le Module d’enquête sur la sécurité alimentaire des ménages. La qualité de l’alimentation, estimée à partir d’un questionnaire de fréquence alimentaire, a été déclinée en cinq variables : trois patrons alimentaires reflétant une alimentation de meilleure qualité (désignée prudent) et de moindre qualité (respectivement western et snack foods), un score de variété alimentaire et la fréquence de consommation de repas. Des régressions multivariées et logistiques ont été effectuées sur 987 participants avec des données complètes. Résultats : L’étude montre une association négative entre la gravité de l’insécurité alimentaire et le patron prudent, une association positive entre la gravité de l’insécurité alimentaire et le patron snack foods, un risque plus élevé de sauter des repas et d’avoir un faible score de variété. Conclusion : Il existe un gradient de qualité de l’alimentation selon le statut de sécurité alimentaire des nouveaux demandeurs d’aide alimentaire. Des inégalités sociales en alimentation existent, même au sein d’une population très vulnérable à l’insécurité alimentaire. / Context: Household food insecurity, i.e an insufficient or uncertain access to foods because of financial difficulties, can affect dietary quality. However, little is known about this association among new food aid users. Objectives: To quantify the associations between food security status and dietary quality of new food aid users. Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis of data from the Pathways, asking for food aid and then? study, including 1001 participants interviewed between 2018 and 2020. Household food security status was assessed through the Household Food Security Survey Module. Dietary quality, assessed through a food frequency questionnaire, was broken down into five variables: three dietary patterns reflecting a diet of better quality (named prudent) and poorer quality (named western and snack foods, respectively), a dietary variety score and meal consumption frequency. Multivariable regression and logistic regression analyses were performed on 987 participants with complete data. Results: This study shows a negative association between gravity of food insecurity and prudent dietary pattern, a positive association between gravity of food insecurity and snack foods dietary pattern and higher odds of skipping meals and having a lower dietary variety among individuals in food insecure households. Conclusion: There is a gradient of dietary quality according to food security status among new food aid users in Quebec. Social inequalities in diet exist even among a subgroup of very vulnerable individuals living in food insecurity.