A capabilities approach to food choices.

Gombert, Karolina; Douglas, Flora; Carlisle, Sandra; McArdle, Karen

Abstract

The authors question the notion of food choice and consider how much food choice someone living on low income actually has. In their fieldwork, it became clear that food choices, and hence one’s nutritional and health state, cannot be viewed in separation from the participants’ individual stories and the complexities of their lives. Daily routines, financial situation, and food accessibility have an impact on people’s food choices. In realising this, they found Amartya Sen’s (1979, 1985) capabilities approach useful, which moves beyond food entitlements. More specifically, a health capabilities approach as introduced by Venkatapuram (2007, 2011) and the association made between health and capabilities by others (e.g. Ruger Yale Joural Law Humanities 18 (2): 3, 2003) views health as the combination of the influence of socio-economic structures, as well as personal agency resulting in choices. The authors present the main learnings from viewing Foodways and Futures through the ‘capabilities lens’ and thus view food choices as the combination of the complex interrelations between socio-economic structures and agency.

Citation

GOMBERT, K., DOUGLAS, F., CARLISLE, S. and MCARDLE, K. 2017. A capabilities approach to food choices. Food ethics [online], 1(2), pages 143-155. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41055-017-0013-5

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 29, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Jun 16, 2017
• Publication Date: Aug 31, 2017
• Deposit Date: May 22, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: May 22, 2020
• Journal: Food Ethics
• Print ISSN: 2364-6853
• Electronic ISSN: 2364-6861
• Publisher: Springer
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 1
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 143-155
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41055-017-0013-5
• Keywords: Young people; Food poverty; Capabilities approach; Amartya Sen; Choice; Action research; Vulnerable groups
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/876379