A riff on the well-riffed Proust Questionnaire, the CFS Choux Questionnaire is meant to elicit a tasty and perhaps surprising experience, framed within a seemingly humble exterior. (And yes, some questions have a bit more craquelin than others.) Straightforward on their own, the queries combined start to form a celebratory pyramid of extravagance. How that composite croquembouche is assembled and taken apart, however, is up to the respondents and readers to determine. Respondents are invited to answer as many questions as they choose. The final question posed—What question would you add to this questionnaire?—prompts each respondent to incorporate their own inquisitive biome into the mix, feeding a forever renewed starter culture for future participants. Our Choux Questionnaire respondent for this issue is Joshna Maharaj. Joshna is a chef, activist, and speaker dedicated to reimagining institutional food systems to prioritize health, sustainability, and dignity. She is a sought-after speaker and author of Take Back the Tray, which describes her work building new models for hospital, school, and institutional food procurement, production and service. The book won the World Gourmand Cookbook award in 2020. She is also an MA student in Gastronomy and Food Studies at TU Dublin. World Gourmand Cookbook Award in 2020.
A riff on the well-riffed Proust Questionnaire, the CFS Choux Questionnaire is meant to elicit a tasty and perhaps surprising experience, framed within a seemingly humble exterior. (And yes, some questions have a bit more craquelin than others.) Straightforward on their own, the queries combined start to form a celebratory pyramid of extravagance. How that composite croquembouche is assembled and taken apart, however, is up to the respondents and readers to determine. Respondents are invited to answer as many questions as they choose. The final question posed—What question would you add to this questionnaire?—prompts each respondent to incorporate their own inquisitive biome into the mix, feeding a forever renewed starter culture for future participants. Our Choux Questionnaire respondent for this issue is Bryan Dale. He is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environment, Agriculture, and Geography at Bishop's University, located on Abenaki Territory in Sherbrooke, QC. Before Bishop’s, Bryan was a postdoctoral fellow at the Culinaria Research Centre at U of T Scarborough. His research and teaching cover a range of topics, including food sovereignty, agroecology, climate change, environmental justice, social movements, agriculture, food security, and labour and equality in the food system.
Multilevel, multicomponent interventions are recognized approaches to promote public health and prevent disease. Our study focused on diet and its determinants to understand factors impacting healthy food retailing in rural Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Canada, using a case study approach with community-engaged system-based processes. In three case study communities, we conducted two qualitative data generating processes (storeowner interviews and community focus groups), to inform the design and implementation of a healthy retailing intervention. We identified five key themes from describing the micro, meso, exo, and macro system of factors that impact healthy food retailing in rural NL communities: (1) consumers drive retailer behavior; (2) independence increases the stores’ capacity to serve the community; (3) “everything comes down to price, for us and the customers”; (4) the store is less about food, and more about the community; (5) frustrating conventional food systems are juxtaposed against aspirations of obtaining food locally. We reveal the important relationships between consumers and retailers, the value of independence in store ownership, the dominating challenge of food prices, and imperfect local and conventional food systems impacting healthy food retailing in small stores in rural NL. Our system of themes highlights the economic and social landscape in which the stores operate. Food retailers strategically balance this complex system of layered, interconnected factors, continuously seeking ways to support the wellbeing of their communities. Future research will explore the feasibility and impact of healthy food retailing interventions, informed by this research, within rural NL food stores and communities.
Communities in northern Canada are adopting community gardens as a means to address food insecurity, which has been exacerbated by climate change, rising food costs, and limited access to traditional and nutritious foods. Despite these initiatives, many northern communities lack the essential resources required to sustain such projects. This study seeks to address this gap through a Participatory Action Research approach, whereby community members identify both available resources and those necessary for maintaining their community garden, as well as potential regional and extra-regional opportunities for sustaining food system projects. The Community Agroecological Values Framework (CAVF) is applied to food system planning in Kakisa, Northwest Territories (NWT). The findings indicate that while the community has successfully leveraged regional and extra-regional resources by building relationships with organizations outside the territory, barriers such as unstable relationships and conflicting perspectives regarding land use and agriculture have constrained access to critical regional supports, including gardening knowledge networks, funding, and training opportunities. This study highlights the importance of both short-term regional support and long-term local capacity building to establish foundational knowledge and foster enthusiasm for food production over time. Lessons learned from strategies aimed at building local capacities indicate that both short-term regional assistance and sustained community-level capacity development are crucial for establishing foundational knowledge and enthusiasm for gardening in the North. These findings contribute to the design of a community food system action plan, emphasizing the necessity for collaborative strategies to build well-being and promote the sustainable transformation of food systems in northern Indigenous communities.
Food literacy, a multifaceted concept, is traditionally recognized across health, nutrition, and education disciplines as a critical strategy for combating dietary-related diseases and enhancing population health outcomes. Often viewed through a narrow lens focussing on food-related knowledge and skills, food literacy is now understood to encompass broader sociocultural influences. This study explored these influences on food literacy practices, using a qualitative approach that includes narrative writing activities and semi-structured interviews with community members in the Elmridge neighbourhood, a socioeconomically disadvantaged area in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The findings reveal that food literacy is shaped by a complex interplay of sociocultural factors such as social relations, health perceptions, gendered roles, economic status, and emotional connections to food. This expanded understanding suggests that food literacy education should integrate these contextual factors to more effectively address food insecurity and promote equitable food systems. The study's implications highlight the need for policy and educational frameworks that recognize the sociocultural dimensions of food literacy, advocating for more inclusive and comprehensive approaches to food literacy education.
Rural populations in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) often experience a higher burden of diet-related chronic diseases - an issue compounded by the limited availability of affordable healthy food options in rural stores. Our study focussed on factors impacting healthy food retailing in rural NL, Canada, from the perspective of food storeowners. Using three store case studies, we conducted interviews with storeowners exploring the store (ownership model; goods and services offered; suppliers; location; competition), relationship with customers, and healthy food retailing (options; facilitators; barriers). Three themes describe key factors that impacted healthy food retailing in rural NL communities from the perspective of storeowners: (1) the store is an agent of community; (2) independence increases the stores’ capacities to serve the community; (3) storeowners are frustrated with imbalances in conventional food systems and aspire to participate in local food systems. These themes highlight the positive and challenging interactions between retailers, their customers and food systems whereby food storeowners navigate financial and social bottom lines simultaneously to meet their own and community needs. Food system factors appear to constrain food store business operations, particularly around procuring and selling healthy, quality, affordable foods. Future research exploring feasibility and impact of healthy food retailing interventions within rural NL food stores and communities, as well as measures to balance power within food systems to alleviate challenges of cost and availability, are needed for equitable population-based interventions to support healthy eating in rural communities.
In Canada, food insecurity is defined as the result of inadequate financial resources. However, this definition obscures the many factors that exacerbate the prevalence, and shape the lived experience, of food insecurity among newcomers (i.e., immigrants and refugees) to Canada. This research, conducted in partnership with Common Roots Urban Farm (CRUF), a large urban farm located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, uses a qualitative descriptive research design and semi-structured interviews with newcomers and providers of settlement services who are located in Halifax, to explore the meanings and experiences of, and barriers and strategies to, accessing culturally appropriate foods and foodways. We draw on three concepts—cultural food security, salutogenesis, and occupational justice—to expand the conceptualization of food security for newcomers beyond financial constraints to include access to culturally appropriate foods and foodways. Overall, our findings indicate that access to culturally appropriate food is intertwined with financial barriers, but is vitally important to newcomers’ sense of identity, connection to friends and family, and belongingness.
This manuscript utilizes data from policy stakeholder interviews and a systematic search of government websites to identify how the federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments in Canada address food loss and waste (FLW) and how stakeholders interpret jurisdiction over this issue. The findings show that government policies related to this issue represent a patchwork of disparate and overlapping actions that have been enacted by governments at different levels and across a variety of departments and agencies (e.g., environmental, agricultural, economic). Of these policies, only a few were identified as having the explicit objective to reduce the generation of this waste and/or divert it from landfill. Most policies, in fact, had non-FLW related objectives (e.g., to improve the profitability of the agricultural sector), but still had a potential or actual impact on the generation and/or management of this type of waste. Despite it being unclear who has jurisdiction over FLW in the country, an examination of interview transcripts reveals that policy stakeholders have limited views of which government entities have the authority to address FLW. This manuscript argues that the lack of jurisdictional clarity presents a barrier to a more comprehensive governance of FLW. While it may be possible to clarify who has jurisdiction over this issue, this manuscript contends that policy stakeholders need to rethink their understanding of jurisdiction itself. This manuscript operationalizes Valverde’s “work of jurisdiction” to present an alternative way to interpret jurisdiction that opens new possibilities for the governance of FLW.
In North America, older adults are increasingly facing food insecurity and are among a rapidly growing group of emergency food users. While the food justice movement advocates for the “right to food” and equitable access within food systems, the contributions of older adults within this movement remain underexplored. This narrative review addresses this gap, synthesizing literature at the intersection of food system advocacy and aging. The findings reveal existing pathways, barriers, and opportunities for older adults in the food justice movement. The thematic analysis of relevant articles revealed three pathways of involvement for older adults: as cultural stewards sharing oral histories, as engaged citizens in food system governance, and as participants in alternative food networks that enhance access to food. Barriers to their engagement include differing conceptualizations of the “right to food,” limited knowledge of food systems, self-perceived lack of agency, and structural constraints. The review also identifies opportunities for older adults to become involved in food justice, including intergenerational collaborations and participatory engagement in food governance. Recognizing the unique perspectives and experiences of older adults within food systems positions them as social change agents in the broader food justice movement, helping to address ageism and contribute to a more inclusive and sustainable food future.
Food studies is both a unifying discipline and post-discipline, in that it brings together and transforms perspectives with origins in sociology, geography, planning, dietetics, public health, environmental management, immigration studies, and community development, etc. Food is a platform for bridging worldviews, lived experiences, disciplinary, and sectoral silos, and scalar jurisdictional perspectives. Food is a platform for relational understanding and common ground amongst diverse interests. Nonetheless, key silos persist and provide a challenge for food scholars, practitioners, and activists to overcome. What follows is a reflection, offering examples where we need to make ongoing efforts to reach across the table and aisle to build novel relationships and thus elicit transformative change.
Marlene Epp's Eating Like a Mennonite: Food and Community Across Borders is a compelling study of how food mediates cultural, religious, and communal identities. Drawing from personal reflection, Epp reorients the reader's attention from "what" Mennonites ate to what food has meant for them throughout their historically migratory and diverse religious tradition.
Over the course of 2025, the Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation (CFS/RCÉA) Management Team has been working on two important projects: a new podcast, Digesting Food Studies / Concentré d’études sur l’alimentation (DFS/CÉSA), that draws on journal articles and issues, and a new Artificial Intelligence (AI) policy aimed at addressing the effects of this transformational technology and offering guidance on its use throughout the editorial process.
This article emerged from a community-based symposium held in a public library, aimed at synthesizing reflections on the connections between climate actions, food security, and (im)migration. The authors, representing diverse positionalities and professional backgrounds explore the generative entanglements offered through food justice discourses and land-based pedagogies. Through channelling personal and professional experiences and disciplinary expertise, we sought to open up intersectional imaginaries of food and environmental justice, while actively seeking spaces for learning alliances. Emergent themes include challenging the settled imagination of integration in a community and on the land, finding ways of healing and placemaking through attending to the soil, plants, and other more-than-human beings that support collective well-being, and affirming the emancipatory potential of art-based learning entangled with land-based pedagogies. In foregrounding these voices, the article contributes to the ongoing efforts to support pluralistic forms of knowing and being, through exploring trajectories of transformative educational experiences centering food/environmental justice.
Disruptions due to the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to bring many local, regional, and global food systems to a standstill, as production capacity, supply chains, and distribution networks were all impacted. Researchers responded by documenting a wide range of consequences and reinforcing the importance of fostering food security based on local cultures. As the pandemic started to ease, we examined how cultural knowledge, stories, and other aspects of living heritage helped Canadian prairie producers and consumers navigate and recover from the crisis. As part of a larger Food, Culture, and Heritage project, we conducted a province-wide, anonymous survey that asked about food-related concerns in Saskatchewan, policies that might alleviate these concerns, and steps that could be taken to enhance the resilience of local food systems. Based on 168 responses, with 36 percent coming from rural or peri-urban areas, affordability was a major concern, especially because of rising food prices, low incomes, and transportation issues. The ability to access safe and healthy food was another top issue, partly because of a lack of rural grocery stores and the sensitivity of food-related supply chains. A third concern involved the loss of local knowledge, precipitated by an overreliance on imported and processed foods, limited time, and the effects of colonization. Overall, the results pointed to cultural norms and practices associated with neoliberalism, implying that localized principles aimed at food sovereignty are important for building a sustainable food system.
In recent years, resilient food systems have become a policy priority for municipal governments, especially given concerns about climate change, the impacts of COVID-19, and rising food insecurity in Canada. The term resilience is often used to describe the ability of individuals, communities, nations and systems to recover from disruptions. However, resilience is frequently employed within policy discourse without clear definition or communication as to who or what should be resilient. The ambiguous use of the term can lead to inadequate policy and often fails to address systemic issues that create food system and social inequities in municipalities. Our analysis examines how the City of Toronto has framed resilience within food system policy discussions and compares these framings with the perceptions of resilience held by local community-based food system actors. Through an analysis of sixteen (n=16) municipal documents and twenty-eight (n=28) key informant interviews, our findings suggest that the rhetoric of resilience has little actual influence on food policy. Instead, it is often used to describe an idealized food system and indirectly places the responsibility on individuals to be resilient amid ongoing and multifaceted crises. The study contributes to critical discussions on resilience in food systems literature, arguing that resilience often reinforces a neoliberal mindset that prioritizes economic system resilience over the well-being of populations. The momentum towards community-driven, culturally responsive, localized food initiatives in Toronto is a positive step. However, we suggest that food system scholars, practitioners and policymakers engage with the concepts of ‘resilience’ more critically and with more intention, being mindful of the systems of oppression and exploitation inherent to the concept.
In Canada, approximately 35.5 million metric tonnes of food are wasted annually, with avoidable food loss and waste costing Canada $49.5 billion (Nikkel et al., 2019). The volume of food waste in Canada harms environmental sustainability and leads to economic inefficiency and social inequality (Soma, 2022). This study at Brescia University College explored methods to reduce plate waste in a university restaurant. Using two research designs, this study first analyzed and categorized all plate waste, finding non-food waste predominantly during breakfast (59.8 percent) and lunch (54.3 percent). Edible waste was highest during dinner (51.0 percent); carbohydrates contributed to the most waste (54.5 percent) and plant-based protein (3.1 percent) the least. The second design involved student participation in waste weighing and completing questionnaires. Results showed a median edible waste of 19.0g, with fullness, poor taste, large portion size, and inability to bring home leftovers as the main reasons for waste. Meal plan students had a significantly higher amounts of plate waste than non-meal plan students (p<0.001). Recommendations include serving smaller portions, improving food taste, and offering storage solutions for leftovers.
This book explores the good food revolution in public institutions: schools, hospitals and prisons. Noting that the provision of food in these institutions is an index of the public duty of care, the author puts forward ideas and provides examples of institutions that are harnessing the power of purchase to not only overcome the damage caused by the neoliberal narrow-mindedness of ‘value for money’ but also contribute to a fairer, healthier and more sustainable food system.
Jeffrey M. Pilcher’s Hopped Up serves up a finely crafted global history of beer, uncovering how transnational flows of people, knowledge, and technology have continually shaped and re-shaped beer’s meanings and material forms. With a keen eye for invented tradition, the book uncovers contemporary beer styles as ever-evolving products of capitalist development. Pilcher weaves a remarkable narrative spanning centuries and continents, allowing his historical account to avoid several pitfalls of previous synchronic and national-level analyses. This book will appeal to a wide audience across the social sciences and humanities, and will be especially valuable to those interested in cultural and political economy, imperialism and nation-building, and social distinction. In providing an expansive yet concise history of a ubiquitous commodity, Hopped Up serves as a shining reminder of how everyday articles of food and drink have participated in the making of the modern world.
This Field Report describes the stages in the development of the Arctic Food Innovation Cluster (AFIC). Motivation for AFIC arose during research supported by the Arctic Council’s Sustainable Development Working Group, which found the development of Arctic food industries was constrained by a general absence of innovation in primary and secondary product development. Through a series of iterative stages—scoping, consultations, design—a vision for AFIC emerged. This involved the establishment of a central AFIC hub that would promote strategic coordination, direction, and knowledge mobilization between stakeholders. The High North Centre (HNC) for Business and Governance at Nord University in Norway has assumed this central role and will guide the development of the AFIC initiative. The AFIC strategy assumes development of a network of regional pan-Arctic food hubs that will serve as aggregation points for knowledge sharing and strengthening the interconnectivity between local food producers and other value chain actors in the Arctic food system. Ultimately, the goal of AFIC and its associated regional hubs is to help instill a sense of pride, empowerment, health, and wellbeing in Arctic communities through the sustainable development of Arctic food industries.
Introduction: In Canada, there is a growing commitment to developing a national school food program (SFP) to improve children’s diet and address existing and widening health inequities. Having an understanding of the current landscape of SFP offerings and context is essential to inform the national SFP development. Methods: Available data are scarce; we drew from three unique school-based surveys: a provincially-representative sample of elementary schools from the Raising Healthy Eating and Active Living Kids in Alberta study (2008-2014), a sample of elementary schools with active whole-school health promotion intervention called A Project Promoting Active Living and Healthy Eating Schools (intervention years 1-6), and a convenience sample of secondary schools from the Cannabis, Obesity, Mental Health, Physical Activity, Alcohol, Smoking, and Sedentary Behaviour study (2016/17-2021/22). Descriptive analyses assessed the temporal trends in SFP availability, characteristics, and enablers/barriers. Results: Secondary schools reported a decrease in SFP availability, while the opposite trend was observed in elementary schools, particularly those with a whole-school health promotion intervention in place. Elementary schools with an active health promotion intervention also demonstrated improved awareness, incorporation, and compliance with provincial nutrition guidelines. Barriers to SFP included funding constraints and infrastructure challenges, and these remained consistent over the years. Conclusion: Given the complexity of factors that impact SFP availability, there is an urgent need for a national SFP and harmonized school food policy to help improve Canadian children’s diet, ensure lifelong healthy eating habits, and promote health equity.
