Articles
At the table but undocumented: understanding hoopvine as nutrition resilience in a farmworker community
Article number
1460_34
Pages
289 – 298
Language
English
Abstract
Nutrition resilience can be defined as practices used to address vulnerabilities related to food provision, including how to withstand adverse effects of nutrition insecurity.
Farmworker communities face challenges related to citizenship, migration, labor, stigmatization, and (in)access to food, healthcare, and housing, impacting nutrition and health.
This research uses a nutrition functional diversity (NFD) metric to understand the ways that food pantries, garden spaces, and foraging practices are tools for nutrition resilience used by farmworker communities in Immokalee, Florida.
NFD is defined as the number of species within a population that contribute unique nutritional or functional traits (e.g., differences in fiber, vitamin C, or other nutrient contents). A mixed-method approach was used, including 1) participatory ranking activity (PRA), and 2) interviews with a 24-h diet recall and a garden map exercise (n=58). During the PRA session, 83 plants were listed and a weighting factor was assigned based on the number of votes received.
Through home garden maps, 98 food plants were identified and weighted according to the space they occupied.
When evaluating plant lists, gaps in data became evident.
Composition data for several plants were unavailable through ESHA Food Processor; in that case partial data or a similar subspecies were used.
An excluded plant was hoopvine (Trichostigma octandrum). As a perennial vegetable both gardened and foraged, the absence of hoopvine data illustrates that when composition data are missing, a plant is unreported.
While hoopvine is not prioritized by modern agriculture production systems or nutrition science, its use is valued by Immokalee community members.
One begins to see the downstream reality, where policy and markets are more likely to promote uniformity in regional food systems and in turn, increase vulnerability.
Composition data are needed to link agroecology and nutrition.
Within community nutrition, the cost is overlooking valuable sources of nourishment.
Farmworker communities face challenges related to citizenship, migration, labor, stigmatization, and (in)access to food, healthcare, and housing, impacting nutrition and health.
This research uses a nutrition functional diversity (NFD) metric to understand the ways that food pantries, garden spaces, and foraging practices are tools for nutrition resilience used by farmworker communities in Immokalee, Florida.
NFD is defined as the number of species within a population that contribute unique nutritional or functional traits (e.g., differences in fiber, vitamin C, or other nutrient contents). A mixed-method approach was used, including 1) participatory ranking activity (PRA), and 2) interviews with a 24-h diet recall and a garden map exercise (n=58). During the PRA session, 83 plants were listed and a weighting factor was assigned based on the number of votes received.
Through home garden maps, 98 food plants were identified and weighted according to the space they occupied.
When evaluating plant lists, gaps in data became evident.
Composition data for several plants were unavailable through ESHA Food Processor; in that case partial data or a similar subspecies were used.
An excluded plant was hoopvine (Trichostigma octandrum). As a perennial vegetable both gardened and foraged, the absence of hoopvine data illustrates that when composition data are missing, a plant is unreported.
While hoopvine is not prioritized by modern agriculture production systems or nutrition science, its use is valued by Immokalee community members.
One begins to see the downstream reality, where policy and markets are more likely to promote uniformity in regional food systems and in turn, increase vulnerability.
Composition data are needed to link agroecology and nutrition.
Within community nutrition, the cost is overlooking valuable sources of nourishment.
Authors
R. Garofano, M. Voss, R. Burnette
Keywords
neglected and underutilized plant species, perennial vegetables, foraging, nutrition functional diversity, nutrition security
Online Articles (42)