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Charitable food assistance as symbolic gesture: an ethnographic study of food banks in Ontario

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  • Tarasuk, Valerie
  • Eakin, Joan M.

Abstract

Community-based charitable food assistance programs have recently been established in several affluent nations to distribute public and corporate food donations to 'the needy'. In Canada, food banks comprise the primary response to hunger and food insecurity, but problems of unmet food need persist. We conducted an ethnographic study of food bank work in southern Ontario to examine the functioning of these extra-governmental, charitable food assistance programs in relation to problems of unmet need. Our results suggest that the limited, variable and largely uncontrollable supply of food donations shaped the ways in which food assistance was defined and the practices that governed its distribution. Workers framed the food assistance as a supplement or form of acute hunger relief, but generally acknowledged that the food given was insufficient to fully meet the needs of those who sought assistance. In response to supply limitations, workers restricted both the frequency with which individual clients could receive assistance and the amount and selection of food that they received on any one occasion. Food giving was essentially a symbolic gesture, with the distribution of food assistance dissociated from clients' needs and unmet needs rendered invisible. We conclude that, structurally, food banks lack the capacity to respond to the food needs of those who seek assistance. Moreover, the invisibility of unmet need in food banks provides little impetus for either community groups or government to seek solutions to this problem.

Suggested Citation

  • Tarasuk, Valerie & Eakin, Joan M., 2003. "Charitable food assistance as symbolic gesture: an ethnographic study of food banks in Ontario," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(7), pages 1505-1515, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:56:y:2003:i:7:p:1505-1515
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    1. Liora Gvion, 2006. "Cuisines of poverty as means of empowerment: Arab food in Israel," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 23(3), pages 299-312, October.
    2. Daniel N. Warshawsky, 2023. "Food insecurity and the covid pandemic: uneven impacts for food bank systems in Europe," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 40(2), pages 725-743, June.
    3. Holmes, Eleanor & Black, Jennifer L. & Heckelman, Amber & Lear, Scott A. & Seto, Darlene & Fowokan, Adeleke & Wittman, Hannah, 2018. "“Nothing is going to change three months from now”: A mixed methods characterization of food bank use in Greater Vancouver," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 129-136.
    4. Lesia Kinach & Kate Parizeau & Evan D. G. Fraser, 2020. "Do food donation tax credits for farmers address food loss/waste and food insecurity? A case study from Ontario," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 37(2), pages 383-396, June.
    5. Md Belal Hossain & Michael A. Long & Paul B. Stretesky, 2020. "Welfare State Spending, Income Inequality and Food Insecurity in Affluent Nations: A Cross-National Examination of OECD Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.
    6. Matteo Vittuari & Fabio De Menna & Silvia Gaiani & Luca Falasconi & Alessandro Politano & Jana Dietershagen & Andrea Segrè, 2017. "The Second Life of Food: An Assessment of the Social Impact of Food Redistribution Activities in Emilia Romagna, Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-14, October.
    7. Lynn McIntyre & Danielle Tougas & Krista Rondeau & Catherine L. Mah, 2016. "“In”-sights about food banks from a critical interpretive synthesis of the academic literature," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 33(4), pages 843-859, December.
    8. Garthwaite, K.A. & Collins, P.J. & Bambra, C., 2015. "Food for thought: An ethnographic study of negotiating ill health and food insecurity in a UK foodbank," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 38-44.
    9. Rombach, Meike & Bitsch, Vera, 2018. "Sector blending: evidence from the German Food Bank," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 21(2), March.
    10. Christian John Reynolds & Julia Piantadosi & John Boland, 2015. "Rescuing Food from the Organics Waste Stream to Feed the Food Insecure: An Economic and Environmental Assessment of Australian Food Rescue Operations Using Environmentally Extended Waste Input-Output ," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-20, April.
    11. Elisha Vlaholias & Kirrilly Thompson & Danielle Every & Drew Dawson, 2015. "Charity Starts … at Work? Conceptual Foundations for Research with Businesses that Donate to Food Redistribution Organisations," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(6), pages 1-25, June.
    12. Pérez, Eduardo & Marthak, Yash V. & Méndez Mediavilla, Francis A., 2023. "Analysis and forecast of donations at domestic hunger relief organizations impacted by natural disasters," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    13. Mossenson, Sharonna & Giglia, Roslyn & Pulker, Claire E. & Chester, Miranda & McStay, Catrina & Pollard, Christina M, 2024. "Evidence for initiating food safety policy: An assessment of the quality and safety of donated food at an Australian food bank," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    14. Garrone, Paola & Melacini, Marco & Perego, Alessandro, 2014. "Opening the black box of food waste reduction," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 129-139.
    15. Edge, Sara & Meyer, Samantha B., 2019. "Pursuing dignified food security through novel collaborative governance initiatives: Perceived benefits, tensions and lessons learned," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 77-85.
    16. Byrne, Anne T. & Just, David R., 2022. "Review: Private food assistance in high income countries: A guide for practitioners, policymakers, and researchers," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    17. Melanie Rock & Lynn McIntyre & Krista Rondeau, 2009. "Discomforting comfort foods: stirring the pot on Kraft Dinner ® and social inequality in Canada," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 26(3), pages 167-176, September.
    18. Valerie Tarasuk & Joan Eakin, 2005. "Food assistance through “surplus” food: Insights from an ethnographic study of food bank work," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 22(2), pages 177-186, June.
    19. Joshua Lohnes & Bradley Wilson, 2018. "Bailing out the food banks? Hunger relief, food waste, and crisis in Central Appalachia," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 50(2), pages 350-369, March.
    20. Meike Rombach & Eunkyung Kang & Vera Bitsch, 2018. "Good deeds revisited: motivation and boundary spanning in formal volunteering," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 15(1), pages 105-126, March.
    21. Dubey, Nistha & Tanksale, Ajinkya, 2022. "A study of barriers for adoption and growth of food banks in India using hybrid DEMATEL and Analytic Network Process," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    22. Mercy N. Mukoya & Fiona H. McKay & Matthew Dunn, 2017. "Can Giving Clients a Choice in Food Selection Help to Meet Their Nutritional Needs?: Investigating a Novel Food Bank Approach for Asylum Seekers," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 981-991, November.

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