View article

There is little in-depth knowledge as to what inhibits impoverished families from obtaining sufficient food to eat healthily. This discussion paper provides an overview of the social and policy circumstances that create and maintain food poverty in New Zealand. We attempt to locate some answers to this issue by engaging scholars and practitioners working alongside families with on-going food insecurity. A qualitative meta-analysis comprising a comprehensive literature review was conducted alongside key informant interviews with experienced scholar-activists to contribute to the development of a more in-depth understanding of this complex social issue. We contend that food insecurity and urban poverty are troubling realities for many families in New Zealand and are exacerbated by structural constraints. We argue, as current and future psychologists engaging in concerns critical to community wellbeing, we need to situate our work within local socio-political contexts.

While we find ourselves situated in a world that produces enough food to feed every man, woman and child sufficiently (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, 1996), we simultaneously find ourselves located in a system that fails to ensure it is realised. This is not a condition limited to the developing world. Certainly, in New Zealand–a country abundant in food choices–many thousands of families struggle to satisfy this need (Wynd, 2005). Food and nutrition have long been recognised as critical to health; in recent years their contribution to health inequalities in wealthy, industrialised countries has been more widely acknowledged and better characterised (Dowler & …