Climate-ready and community-informed diversification of local food systems

Climate change adaptation requires diverse food systems that are created by adopting novel crop varieties andspecies. In this project, the student will work in partnership with Food Works, Sheffield (https://thefoodworks.org/) to develop the knowledge, experience and stakeholder relationships needed to adapt local foodscapes to climate change in culturally appropriate ways. The project arises from the recognition that a wider diversity of crops could potentially be grown in the UK climate, but these are either absent or not widely produced for historical reasons. The introduction of novel, climate-ready crops into the UK food system could have particular significance for new migrant communities who are unable to access culturally important foods, as well as being a mechanism through which diets may be diversified for a wider population. However, any intervention intending to diversify the food available for a group of marginalized consumers will only be successful if it builds on existing knowledges and foodways.

New migrant communities (asylum seekers and refugees in particular) may be vulnerable to food insecurity, eating fewer fruits and vegetables compared to those who are food secure. Often this is because affordable and sustainably sourced fruits and vegetables are not available to low-income groups. An additional factor is that food in the new country may be unfamiliar, which produces an additional burden to find and source familiar foods. These, in turn, can be more expensive in the shops because they are “exotic”. On the other hand, new migrants can eat what might be considered locally traditional foods, but which are non-traditional to them. This involves not just learning what these foods are, but how they might be incorporated into the dishes that make up their cooking skills or learn new cooking skills, often with new equipment and methods.

Identifying novel foods that can be produced in the UK context, but which incorporate easily into the foodways of migrants, will ease the cost, utilisation, and dietary vulnerabilities that these groups experience. A key part of this project is therefore working with migrant groups to identify foods that are unavailable or unfamiliar in a UK context.

The student will develop these ideas by working with migrant communities and Food Works community growers and kitchens in Sheffield, combining natural and social science methodologies. Their PhD aims will be, first, to produce an evidence base outlining the full range of crop products that are environmentally suitable for UK growing, and the subset of these that are culturally important but unavailable locally for particular migrant communities in Sheffield. Secondly, through co-production, to diversify food products in ways that are acceptable for these communities, including strategies developed with Food Works for locally producing and distributing a selection of novel crops. Finally, the project will co-create a cookbook utilising these foods to make them available to those who are not familiar with them. This will increase confidence among migrant groups and help expand food knowledges among the non-migrant population.