Food and Health Research Interest Group
Our Focus
This RIG is currently not accepting new proposals, but continues to support the Food for Talk seminar series.
This research interest group is interested in how food policy and programs shapes the health of urban residents. Topics of interest to RIG members have included: community gardening, urban food security, environmental contamination, pesticide use, social mobilization around food, and the relationships between food systems and urban sustainability.
Research, community and policy partners have included the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, FoodShare, and Toronto Public Health. This RIG has had strong links with grassroots community and policy organizations that extended to other urban areas in Canada. Membership of this RIG has been diverse and has included representatives of community gardens, farmers and small businesses involved in local alternative agriculture programs (e.g., CSA farms, food co-ops), anti-hunger advocates, public health practitioners, representatives of all levels of government, and community groups at the local neighbourhood level with interests in food issues.
Investigators
- Nairne Cameron (Department of Geography and Geology, Algoma University College)
- Nick Istvanffy (SPARC BC)
- Josee Johnston (Department of Sociology, University of Toronto at Mississauga)
- Wendy Mendes (School of Community & Regional Planning, University of British Columbia)
- Wallace Seccombe (Sociology & Equity Studies in Education, OISE, University of Toronto)
- Rebecca Siggner (SPARC BC)
- Sarah Wakefield (Department of Geography, University of Toronto)
- Patricia Williams (Applied Human Nutrition, Mt. St. Vincent University)
- Fiona Yeudall (School of Nutrition, Ryerson University)
Project Descriptions
1. Edible Backyards: Residential Land Use for Food Production in Toronto
Received IRONhI Seed Grant
Principal Investigator(s):
Dr. Sarah Wakefield (Dept. of Geography, University of Toronto)
Graduate Student: Robin Kortright, Master of Arts 2007 (Dept. of Geography, Collaborative Program in Environment and Health University of Toronto)
Food security is a fundamental element of community health. Informal house-lot food growing, by providing convenient access to diverse varieties of affordable and nutritious produce, can provide an important support for community food security. With the objective of developing an exploratory assessment of the contribution home food gardening makes to community food security in Toronto, in-depth interviews were conducted with gardeners in two contrasting neighbourhoods. A typology of food gardeners was developed, and this qualitative understanding of residential food production was then assessed from a community food security perspective. It was found that growing food contributes to food security at all income levels by encouraging and enabling a more nutritious diet. The sustainability of household food sourcing and gardeners’ overall health and well-being also increased with food production. Secure access to suitable land to grow food and gardening skills were found to be the most significant barriers to residential food production.
Summary of Edible Backyards: Residential land use for food production in Toronto
Final Report of Edible Backyards: Residential Land Use for Food Production in Toronto
2. Cornering the Market; Changes in Supermarket Distribution & Restrictive Covenants: Implications for Public Health & Urban Sustainability
Principal Investigator(s):
Dr. Nairne Cameron (Department of Geography and Geology,
Lead Community and/or Policy Partners:
Highlands & District Community League;
Abstract
Supermarkets are a key provider of nutritious food in urban areas. With newer, larger supermarkets opening in the suburbs of Canadian cities, smaller, older stores in mature neighbourhoods have been closed.
Some mature neighborhoods in the city have lost supermarkets and cannot attract a new supermarket store due to the covenants and lack of alternative locations within the built-up communities. In the
3. Which of the Following is Not an Essential Service; Roads, Schools, Food Access?: Exploring Food Security with Young Aboriginal Moms
Principal Investigator(s):
Dr. Cyndy Baskin (School of Social Work, Ryerson University)
Lead Community and/or Policy Partner:
Native Women's Resource Centre
Description:
This proposed research project will explore food security issues with young Aboriginal mothers in Toronto. It will examine food security in terms of the daily lives of these young parents and how their circumstances are connected to the larger issues of food related policies. In particular, the project will consider the factors that relate to determinants of food choice and food access for these young mothers and the relationship between food insecurity, housing costs and child welfare involvement. The project aims to focus not only on the inability of current policies to adequately address food insecurity for young Aboriginal mothers and their children, but also on identifying where opportunities lie for positive change in these policies. It will implement an Aboriginal research methodology which is innovative, creative and action-oriented thereby fully involving participants in decision making and knowledge dissemination.
4. Planting the Seeds for Food Security in Nova Scotia: Building Capacity for Local Sustainable Food Systems
Principal Investigator(s):
Dr. Patricia Williams (School of Planning, Dalhousie University)
Lead Community and/or Policy Partners:
Antigonish Farmers Market; Urban Farm Museum Society; Antigonish Voices; School of Nursing, St. FX University; International Institute
Description:
This research project aims to gain an understanding of the food system related challenges faced by low-income citizens and food producers of two agriculturally based urban communities in Nova Scotia (Spryfield and Antigonish). The objectives of this 12mth project are to develop a collaborative relationship amongst researchers, local community groups, and policy makers to create opportunity for further research exploration of urban food systems, and to employ participatory research methods to investigate the barriers to an environmentally sustainable, economically viable, socially just alternative food system within these regions. The research team will employ multiple methods including a systematic review of related literature, asset mapping of past and present community food-related initiatives, and focus groups with key community stakeholders. In addition to a CURA grant submission, this research will contribute to an increased understanding of how best to strengthen local food systems within these regions.
5. Using Brownfields for Community Gardens: Opportunities & Risks
Principal Investigator(s):
Dr. Nick Istvanffy and Rebecca Siggner (SPARC BC)
Lead Community and/or Policy Partners:
Community Action for Health; The Centre for Sustainable Community Development; Social Planning Council of North Okanogan; Vancouver Island Public Interest)
Description:
SPARC BC, a non-profit community-based research organization, has a strong commitment to food security issues. We intend to use the grant to explore the topic of using brownfields for community gardens, including the risks and benefits.
The seed grant funds would be used to mentor a student and a community researcher in conducting background research on this topic, including a literature review and an inventory of Canadian examples of community gardens on brownfields. Additionally, the funds would be used to establish a multi-sectoral advisory committee. The purpose of this advisory would be to share current research around this topic and develop a research program, for which the members of the advisory would then submit proposals to fund elements of the research program. Through our preliminary work for this proposal, several organizations have expressed interest in participating in the advisory, including representatives from Simon Fraser University, Vancouver Coastal Health, and several community organizations.
Using Brownfields Summary Report
6. Evaluating urban pesticide reduction strategies
Principal Investigator(s):
Dr. Monica Bienefeld/Dr. Loren Vanderlinden (Health Promotion & Environmental Protection Office, Toronto Public Health) and
Dr. Donald Cole (Department of Public Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto)
Lead Community and/or Policy Partner:
Health Promotion & Environmental Protection Office, Toronto Public Health
Description:
Pesticides can harm human health, particularly that of children. Public opinion surveys show that people are concerned about pesticide contamination of food, gardens and lawns. In response to these concerns, many Canadian municipalities have education campaigns to encourage people to use alternatives to pesticides in their gardens. Some, including Toronto, have also passed by-laws that restrict the use of pesticides outdoors. Toronto Public Health (TPH) wants to know if by-laws improve the effectiveness of education campaigns in reducing pesticide use in general and for food production in particular, in the urban environment. TPH and U of T researchers will design an evaluation project to answer this question, based on a review of other studies, the experience in other municipalities and expert advice.
Literature Review: Lawn and Order: A Review of the Literature on Effective Strategies for Reducing Outdoor Residential Pesticide Use
Preliminary Report of the Multicultural Yard, Health and Environment Project (MYHEP)
7. Mobilizing for Food Security and Health Research in Toronto
Principal Investigator(s):
Jennifer Reynolds (FoodShare Toronto) and Dr. Fiona Yeudall (School of Nutrition, Ryerson University)
Lead Community and/or Policy Partners:
Toronto Public Health, Food Justice Coalition
Description:
Ten percent of Canadians say that they experience food insecurity - they worry about not getting or can't get enough of the food they need to live a healthy life. Food security research looks at food policies (such as regulations), programs (such as community gardens) and environments (such as where grocery stores are located) that affect people's ability to get the food they need for a healthy life. We will bring together community organizations (like FoodShare), government (like Toronto Public Health) and university researchers, to talk about blockages to the implementation of food security programs and policies that could be addressed through research. From this process a research map identifying up to 10 food security strategies (influencing policy, programs and environments) will be created and will guide plans for seeking external research funding.
8. Urban Gardening Research Opportunity Workgroup (UGROW): A Pilot Study of Community Gardening in Southeast Toronto
Principal Investigator(s):
Dr. Sarah Wakefield (Department of Geography, University of Toronto) and Dr. Fiona Yeudall (School of Nutrition, Ryerson University)
Lead Community and/or Policy partner:
FoodShare Toronto
Description:
Funded by the Wellesley Central Health Corporation, the project explores how community gardens make a difference to health in Southeast Toronto. Through interviews, focus groups, “garden immersion”, our researchers (professors, students, and community members) are learning about the benefits and potential risks of community gardening in Toronto, and are learning from the gardeners themselves what future studies would make sense to and help them. We are also trying to better understand the involvement of people at risk (like people without a safe place to live, or troubled youth) in community gardens.
Growing Urban Health: Community Gardening in South-East Toronto (Health Promotional International)
UGROW "Seeds, Soil & Stories" Project Report
9. Enhancing Environmental Health Protection in a Multicultural City: How Can We Make
Submitted to: SSHRC – Strategic Joint Initiatives, Multiculturalism Issues in
Principal Investigator(s):
Dr. Donald Cole (Dept. of Public Health Sciences,
Lead Community and/or Policy Partner:
Description:
This research will address some of the issues faced by governments in developing and implementing effective municipal environmental health protection policy and programs in a multicultural context. All levels of government across