Social Networks as a Coping Strategy for Food Insecurity and Hunger for Young Aboriginal and Canadian Children

Abstract

Traditional foods and food sharing are important components of Aboriginal culture, helping to create, maintain, and reinforce social bonds. However, limitations in food access and availability may have contributed to food insecurity among Aboriginal people. The present article takes a closer examination of coping strategies among food insecure households in urban and rural settings in Canada. This includes a comparative analysis of the role of social networks, institutional resources, and diet modifications as strategies to compensate for parent-reported child hunger using national sources of data including the Aboriginal Children's Survey and the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth. Descriptive statistical analyses revealed that a majority of food insecure urban and rural Inuit, Métis, and off-reserve First Nations children and rural Canadian children coped with hunger through social support, while a majority of urban food insecure Canadian children coped with hunger through a reduction in food consumption. Seeking institutional assistance was not a common means of dealing with child hunger, though there were significant urban-rural differences. Food sharing practices, in particular, may be a sustainable reported mechanism for coping with hunger as such practices tend to be rooted in cultural and social customs among Aboriginal and rural populations.

Eating in the City: A Review of the Literature on Food Insecurity and Indigenous People Living in Urban Spaces

“…Food reduction strategies to cope with food insecurity and hunger were higher among those living in urban areas than rural and proposed explanations for this included differences in social support networks and barriers to food access such as proximity to food outlets [74]. Zurba et al [75] found that all of the participants in their study were concerned with drug and alcohol addiction for youth in their community, and the relationship between addiction and healthy eating.…”

“…Tam and colleagues [74] found that a decrease in food intake, including skipping meals, was an informal coping mechanism among food insecure urban Indigenous parents and children. Food reduction strategies to cope with food insecurity and hunger were higher among those living in urban areas than rural and proposed explanations for this included differences in social support networks and barriers to food access such as proximity to food outlets [74].…”

“…One study notes that bartering around food and knowledge transactions is common, as it was closer to a relationship of reciprocity around food than a commercial transaction [63]. Food sharing is also used as a coping strategy to deal with food insecurity in urban settings [74]. Multiple studies found that there was a need to strengthen food redistribution, especially of traditional foods through specific programs directed at facilitating the prevalence of food sharing [62,70,74].…”

“…Individuals and households sometimes acquire traditional foods through family and friends living in rural and remote areas [63,67,68] because the cost of purchasing traditional foods is often prohibitive in the city [67,68]. However, food sharing in regards to traditional and market-based foods continues to be less prevalent among urban Indigenous people when compared to those living rurally or remotely [62,66,74]. One study notes that bartering around food and knowledge transactions is common, as it was closer to a relationship of reciprocity around food than a commercial transaction [63].…”

“…The value of food-sharing is important for many different Indigenous nations and cultures and promotes community and social cohesion, as well as physical and emotional health and well-being [63,66,68,[70][71][72]74]. Hospitality and welcoming people through sharing meals is important, even if that dinner is based on store-bought rather than traditional foods [68].…”