Micro-community Food Systems and Autoethnographic Analysis

Consequences of food insecurity include illness, poor cognitive development, and increased behavioral problems. Policies put in place on a macro-community level, including the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Act, were enacted to increase food security, but have fallen short due to the lack of lucidity and promotion to businesses. A more influential approach could be focused on analysis at the community level. Research also shows community gardens are beneficial in promoting food security, diversifying dietary consumption and for greater self-sufficiency in food. The purpose of this research is to identify how hard and soft resources, or lack thereof, interact creating new resources, restraints, and barriers. In doing this we seek to uncover how interactions differ depending on life-stage, e.g., how these differing resources relate to food production and positionality in food climate. Auto-ethnographic data was analyzed using holistic content analysis from three different researchers at the undergraduate, early career Ph.D., and tenured Ph.D. levels. Researchers recorded interactions with food from a garden. Holistic content analysis was used to allow everyone’s experience to be viewed for commonalities, life stage impact comparisons, and other interpretations of common experiences. This research found five major trends: guilt; consumer; time constraints; food processing comfort; and culinary knowledge level. Findings from this study can be used to understand how to best modify the Everybody Eats research collaborative community resources and interventions, as well as broader recommendations for community outreach.