Shopping for food: lessons from a London borough

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to measure access to food in an inner London borough.Design/methodology/approachThere were six phases, which included designing food baskets, consultation with local residents and a shop survey. Recognising the cultural make‐up of the borough food baskets and menus were developed for four key communities, namely: White British, Black Caribbean, Turkish, and Black African. Three areas were identified for the study and shopping hubs identified with a 500‐metre radius from a central parade of shops.FindingsThe findings paint an intricate web of interactions ranging from availability in shops to accessibility and affordability being key issues for some groups. It was found that in the areas studied there was availability of some key healthy items, namely fresh fruit and vegetables, but other items such as: fresh meat and poultry, fish, lower fat dairy foods, high fibre pasta and brown rice were not available. Access was found to be defined, by local people, as more extensive than just physical distance to/from shops – for many shopping was made more difficult by having to use taxis and inconvenient buses. Small shops were important in delivering healthy food options to communities in areas of deprivation and were judged to offer a better range and more appropriate food than the branches of the major supermarket chains.Research limitations/implicationsThe importance of monitoring the impact of shops and shop closures on healthy food availability is emphased. From a policy perspective the findings suggest that approaches based on individual agency need to be balanced with upstream public health nutrition approaches in order to influence the options available.Originalty/valueThe paper is arguably the first to examine and dissect the issue of food availability and accessibility in the inner London borough in question, especially in the light of its proposed redevelopment for the London Olympics in 2012.

What’s local? Access to fresh food for older people

“…Indeed, empirical evidence suggests that those on low incomes and with the least mobility -older people without a car, for example -often shop in more expensive and less convenient shops (Bowyer, et al, 2009), and not wholly because they lack physical alternatives.…”

“…These shops trade on the basis of niche -providing what the supermarkets cannot, or will not. In the main, this is about convenience for small amounts of shopping (Bowyer, et al, 2009), lack of access to alternatives Guy, et al, 2004;Bowyer, et al, 2009) and, for shops providing locally sourced food, ethical considerations around local food and perceptions about shortening the length of the food supply chain (Guthrie, et al, 2006). …”

“…In most cases we do not make decisions in isolation, but in relation to others -who we might want to meet, or not, and where we like, or do not like, to shop. And many people do not really experience choice, in the sense that issues of cost, mobility and cultural capital exclude them from many of the options that might seemingly be available (Ellaway and Macintyre, 2000;Bowyer, et al, 2009). …”

“… Contemplation and planning a shopping trip, involving deciding what is wanted, which shops will have those goods and what other attributes these shops have, including their location relative to other shops or services;  Travelling from home to the shop(s), whatever the means of transport, noting here that one of the attributes of the chosen shop(s) may be their location relative to a bus route or to suitable car parking;  Buying the goods, including the ambience of the shop, the demeanour of the staff (Pettigrew, et al, 2005) and the nature of the other customers;  Returning home, including other stops such as meeting friends, having a cup of tea, or travelling through interesting parts of the town or country (noting here Bowyer, et al's, 2009, comments about the problems of carrying large amounts of shopping on public transport); and  Storing the goods at home, preparing and cooking them, eating them, reflecting on the shopping experience, and beginning to plan the next trip .…”

“…Rather, evidence is emerging that many peopleincluding the elderly and less mobile -have developed strategies for overcoming spatial exclusion (Bowyer, et al, 2009). This suggests that there is a level of complexity to access (and localisation) that extends beyond distance and provenance alone, raising the spectre that understandings of 'local', in the context of food, are contingent (see Herne, 1995;Clarke, et al, 2004;Wilson, et al, 2004).…”