Exploring the role of street vending in urban access to healthy food

Keywords: street food, urban sustainability, food access
Abstract Type: Virtual Paper Abstract

Abstract

Food access is essential to human health and wellbeing; yet, it is unequal in cities. As research on urban food deserts focuses on mapping shop density based on governmental census data, little is known about the role of street vending (which tends to be excluded from economic census) in access to healthy food. This approach black boxes the informal daily practices that can play a role in achieving food access, and thus obscures the intricate relation between food as a material flow, urban territories, and the bodies of urban dwellers.
In this talk, I will present an empirical study undertaken in Azcapotzalco, a municipality in northern Mexico City. Mexico City is characterised by a healthy traditional diet, but which prevalence is decreasing, while obesity and diabetes rates are increasing. Our research explores the role of street vendors as “metabolic operators” that may provide access to healthy food in under-served neighbourhoods, thus enhancing urban dwellers’ health. Through observational fieldwork, we map both mobile and static street vendors selling different types of food (to be prepared at home or to be eaten on site). We identify the street sale of foods that form part of the traditional Mexican diet; which we use as a proxy to identify healthy and sustainable foods. By comparing our results with census data on formal food vending venues (supermarkets, shops, and restaurants) we explore the role of street vending in providing access to healthy food and how this role differs across neighbourhoods.