What can a pandemic (COVID-19) teach us about the resiliency of local food systems and their role in providing food justice?

Keywords: food justice, food business network, COVID-19 pandemic, local, ethnically diverse food networks
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Monday
Session Start / End Time: 2/28/2022 02:00 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/28/2022 03:20 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 25

Abstract

The stability of a diverse local food business network is essential to secure food justice during crisis situations, such as the pandemic. The respiratory nature of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic presented new challenges for our current local food systems. While deemed essential, food businesses struggled to comply with mandates such as physical distancing in an effort to minimize potential community exposure. To survive, restaurants and other food retail businesses implemented creative solutions to create safe experiences for customers. In this project, an interdisciplinary team examined the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on food justice in Seattle, Washington.

This study was designed as empirical, mixed-methods research, surveying for service models and makeshift changes made by food businesses, the urban design and socioeconomic profiles of neighborhoods, and economic outcomes for food businesses, before and during the pandemic. What strategies did different restaurants and other food retail establishments apply to survive the pandemic? How did these strategies improve or worsen the prospect of business continuity across the diverse neighborhoods of Seattle? How were neighborhoods with diverse socioeconomic profiles affected? The strategies neighborhoods used to keep their local restaurants in business give clues about how to strengthen local, ethnically diverse food networks, with recommendations that improve the food system's resilience and provide strategies to secure food justice in crisis situations.