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Hi, Im Rebeca!
Hi, Im Rebeca!
I grew up in Jurupa Valley, CA in a very Hispanic-dominant town. We would get around on horses and go to rodeos on the weekends. It was a place where you are always surrounded by Mexican food and culture, and people spoke more Spanish than English.
Despite growing up in a very dominant Mexican-American community and household, I always wondered about my past heritage, and why my last name had Italian origin. This curiosity to know more about Italian culture was what pushed me to study abroad and live in Italy for a year. After living, experiencing, and traveling around the wonderful country of Italy, I feel more in tune with my Italian heritage and feel proud to have an Italian last name that means something to me.
My interests
My interests
I am interested in Real Estate Development and the Psychology of Marketing. I hope to one day pursue a career in International business, where I can work and travel between the U.S. and Italy. I am extremely fascinated with Italian culture and the Italian language. I hope to one day move to Italy permanently.
Food Insecurity and Covid-19
Food Insecurity and Covid-19
INTL 190 Capstone Research Paper
Rebeca Brambila
Introduction
Introduction
There are 8 billion people living on earth. As the earth’s population continues to increase, it is more evident than ever to find solutions to food insecurity in our nations. The truth of the matter is our food systems continuously fail to provide our societies with adequate access to food. Of the 8 billion people living on earth, 869 million of them are undernourished. On average, over 20 thousand people worldwide die of hunger each day (Worldmeters). Despite world hunger being such a prominent issue, food waste continues to be the single largest component of municipal solid waste in America. Specifically, Covid-19 was a frightening and uncertain time for many. In one year, the Covid-19 pandemic had pushed an additional 320 million people into food insecurity. There is not a lack of food, but a lack of proper food systems that efficiently reduces food waste and transfers it to the communities that require it the most. In this paper, I will discuss food insecurity, specifically during the Covid-19 pandemic, which was a time when food impoverishment spiked. I will compare Italian food systems, efforts to reduce waste, and their ability to provide food security through gardening and locally produced foods and services. I will ultimately compare Italian and American systems and practices to configure a solution to hunger and the reduction of waste in the U.S. This research paper will discuss how the accessibility to locally grown food and gardening practices can provide food security, as well as how prioritizing sustainable action leads to a healthier environment and public. American politicians can learn a lot about how the Italian government has been able to enforce the reduction of waste, provide food security, and aid in community healthy eating habits through the availability of locally produced foods and products. By comparing American and Italian eating habits and food systems, specifically during the pandemic when these differences were amplified; we see how Italian practices of growing food locally and prioritizing sustainable action have led to food security in times of uncertainty, a cleaner environment, and a healthy public.
Motivations
Motivations
My interest in sustainability and food security began in 2021, after living and studying in Italy for a year. During this time I was able to experience what a country with an efficient recycling system, that prioritizes the consumption of fresh organic produce, and what having an effective transportation system does for people. Upon returning to the U.S., I was able to see the massive differences between the U.S. and Italy. Some of the main differences are how the U.S. is falling behind in reducing waste, and how they are not taking advantage of the large amounts of land they possess in order to produce more food locally and ultimately improve national food security. Lucky for me, the director of my study abroad program at the University of Bologna, Italy, was also a part-time linguistics professor at the University of California San Diego, for half of the year. Upon returning to San Diego, I was happy to meet with Professor Ivano Caponigro to discuss the various differences and culture shocks that one experiences after being accustomed to living in another country. In our meeting, which I would like to call an interview, Professor Ivano and I were able to discuss American eating habits, and how they are impacted by the food systems implemented in our country. We also discussed waste in America, and recycling, or the lack thereof, as well as the prominence of gardening in Italy. He also spoke to me about his parents who live in Italy, and who have been cultivating a garden in Naples for the past 15 years. It was after this interview with Professor Ivano Caponigro that I decided to focus my research paper on the differences between American and Italian eating habits, specifically during the pandemic, and how the two countries differ in the sustainability of waste reduction and producing food locally. I plan to discuss these topics further in my research paper, ultimately to underline how American political action must be implemented to truly encourage the reduction of waste and how community and urban gardening could be the key to solving hunger in our countries.
Food Insecurity in America During Covid-19
Food Insecurity in America During Covid-19
Both Americans and Italians, along with the rest of the world, experienced fear of food insecurity at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Ironically, while Covid-19 left some societies food insecure and malnourished, others experiences weight gain and obesity increases. For instance, a direct quote from the National Institute of Health states that eating behaviors in the U.S. during Covid experienced "a shift towards modified eating behaviors, characterized by an increased snack frequency and a preference for sweets and ultra-processed food rather than fruits, vegetables, and fresh food” (González-Monroy 2021, 1). Though these negative food consumption choices may be due to the stresses of being in a global pandemic, another factor is the fact that fresh and organic food is not affordable in America. This is why obesity has been a public health concern in America for nearly five decades. In my interview with Professor Ivano, he mentioned how the meat market in the U.S. has always received major support from the federal government, which is why meat in America is more affordable than the purchase of fresh fruits and vegetables. This is opposite to Italy, where fruits and vegetables are affordable, and meat is extremely expensive. Professor Ivano says it all goes back to supply and demand. Vegetables have always been an important part of the Italian diet and often people grow their own vegetables in their home gardens. When vegetables are such a common food, the market cannot raise the price. The same thing to fresh pasta and other products produced locally in Italy. Fresh pasta in Italy is extremely inexpensive, whereas that same pasta in the U.S. will cost nearly three times as much. At the end of the day, in order to make healthy, organic food more affordable and accessible for all, we need to have more of it grown and produced locally. Increased weight gain was not the only health-hindering thing that came from enduring a global pandemic. A loss of physical activity was also prevalent. In a study conducted on the average steps Americans take per day, it can be seen just how much the low-impact physical action of walking decreased during the first two months of the pandemic. The study demonstrates decreases in self-reported walking and device-based step counts. And interestingly enough, the report surveyed that the decrease in steps walked was larger for individuals from lower-income households. This increase in weight gain, unhealthy eating habits, and decrease in physical activity had a lot to do with people’s fear of going outside, jobs becoming remote, and gyms closing down. Despite several cases of increased obesity and weight gain in America during the pandemic, a large population of Americans also experienced food insecurity. For instance, according to an article from the American Society for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition, before the pandemic, 10% of American households claimed to be food insecure, whereas, after the pandemic, that number had risen to 25%—30% (Otten 2022, S11). Oftentimes, because of the massive gap between the distribution of wealth in America, it is often easy to overlook the truly impoverished communities that suffer and struggle to eat every day.
This is a graph of the study done on the average steps Americans take per day. In this chart, it is seen how step counts significantly decreased during the first two months of the global pandemic.
The map above shows how food insecurity differs across states in America. The map color differentiates each state based on the average amount of food security experienced between the years 2019-2021.
Food Insecurity in Italy During Covid-19
Food Insecurity in Italy During Covid-19
The U.S. was not the only nation that experienced these negative shifts of increased unhealthy eating habits and a reduction of physical activity during the Covid-19 pandemic. In a study conducted on the eating habits of Italians during home confinement, it was shown how Italians also increased their food intake due to the stresses of living the uncertain reality of a global pandemic. Many of the participants in the study mentioned using food as a sense of therapy and comfort during this anxious and scary time that was Covid-19. Likely, in another study done on the average physical health of Italians during the Covid-19 lockdowns, it shows how highly active and moderately active physical activity decreased among Italian people. This decrease in physical activity could have been caused by the mandated restrictions imposed by the Italian government to stay indoors during the start of the pandemic. Similar to the U.S., with all the people who experienced possible weight gain from reducing physical activity, and consuming food for comfort, many Italian people also reported being at risk of food insecurity during the pandemic. In fact, nearly 20% of the Italian population claimed to be food insecure at least one time during the Covid-19 pandemic.
This chart demonstrates high, moderate, and low physical activity of Italians during the Covid-19 pandemic, and how they shifted.
This chart demonstrates the results of an Italian survey conducted on the emotional eating behaviors of Italian citizens during the Covid-19 pandemic. This survey shows the prominence of food anxiety and how it led many Italians to use food as comfort and thus saw increases in their eating habits.
Community Gardens Promote Food Security
Community Gardens Promote Food Security
Although Italy has not been able to completely eliminate food insecurity in their country, I believe they are on the right track towards reducing food waste and finding sustainable solutions to feed their country. Like many nations, Italy suffered a great deal from Covid-19. One way Italy took a unique approach toward enabling food security in its communities is through going back to their rural ways of producing and consuming locally grown foods. In the research study, “Consumers’ eating habits during the Covid-19 pandemic: Evidence of an experimental analysis in Italy” by Filippo Sgroi and Federico Modica, it is mentioned how many Italians went back to their roots during the start of the pandemic. This study researched the consumption experiences of twenty Italian families during the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown, from March 9, 2020, to May 4, 2020. Similar to the actions of many individuals at the start of the Corona Virus, Italians rushed to grocery stores and cleared out the shelves. Overall Covid-19 brought along a lot of fear and stress, which is proven to increase hunger. Often, during disastrous events, people stock up on food, which leads to food shortages. Likely, in Italy during the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, supermarket shelves of food and non-food products like pasta, flour, tomato sauce, soap, and hand sanitizer were emptied. These panic-buying behaviors proceeded, despite the Italian economic authorities assuring its people that the food industry and food distribution were equipped and ready to support the emergency. Luckily for Italians, their food supply chain was able to efficiently provide a continuous supply of food during the pandemic for a lot of Italian families, due to community gardens and the prominence of locally sourced food. In my interview with Professor Ivano, he mentioned how at the start of the pandemic “there was a push towards being more self-sufficient” (Caponigro 2023, 39:43). As seen in the study by Sgroi and Modica, of the twenty participants of the study, only two of them grew their own fruits and vegetables before the pandemic. Once Covid hit, the other eighteen turned to gardening to produce their own food. Some of the foods that these participants began to grow include beets, parsley, cucumber, tomato, and lettuce. Once the lockdown was lifted in May 2020, all of the participants claimed to continue to take care of their gardens for self-consumption.
Despite Sgroi and Modica’s study being very informative, there are constraints within the research. For one, the study is not an accurate representation of all Italian people’s eating and gardening habits, because there is often little to no space for gardening land in dense sites across Italy. Likely, another constraint is that all the participants of the study resided in Sicily. This is a constraint because Sicily is practically an island of the mainland of Italy. This suggests that perhaps the Italians residing on the island may have reacted differently and been more likely to practice and participate in gardening because the food was less available to them than Italians living on the mainland. Despite these constraints, gardening practices seen in Sicily are a decent representation of how Italians in other rural and even urban areas across the nation of Italy because of the information I received from my interview with Professor Ivano. In the interview, Professor Ivano mentioned how his father, who resides in the very dense city of Naples, Italy, which is also on the mainland of Italy, cultivated his garden during the pandemic. Ivano says that his parents have grown their own produce in their garden for nearly 15 years, growing various foods all year round. He mentioned how specifically during the start of the pandemic, his father, along with many other members of the city turned to gardening, “the garden became, essentially the only place where you were allowed to go during the lockdowns.” Professor Ivano says that these community gardens became an important center to socialize in a moment of lockdown. Professor Ivano also mentioned how the community delighted in the exchange of the food they grew with their friends and neighbors throughout the community. Professor Ivano’s father’s experience with community gardening during the pandemic leads me to believe that the research conducted by Sgroi and Modica, despite being done in the rural part of an island of Italy, is a feasible representation of the gardening practices in other areas of Italy. Ultimately this study signifies that gardening practices and the production of food and services locally were significant factors in not only producing food security and improving the physical health of Italians, but it improved mental health, as gardens became one of the only social places where community members could stay in touch and feel a sense of normalcy in the hectic scary time that was Covid-19.
Community Gardens Can Be Implemented in the U.S.
Community Gardens Can Be Implemented in the U.S.
Similar to Italy, I believe gardening in American cities could be a viable solution to food insecurity in our country. Significantly urban and community gardens allow for the availability of healthy, fresh, and affordable produce in areas and to people who would otherwise not have access to them. In the text, Growing ‘good food’: urban gardens, culturally acceptable produce, and food security” by Lucy O. Diekmann, et al. it is described how urban and community gardens can enable food security. Diekmann’s text specifically focused on three urban community garden programs—La Mesa Verde (LMV) and Valley Verde (VV), which are Community Food Security (CFS) groups, that took place in Santa Clara, California. These programs were able to successfully improve low-income families’ access to food through training, educating, and providing materials to start their own gardens. Oftentimes low income and lower-class individuals are judged for being unhealthy as if they simply enjoy choosing unhealthy alternatives. Diekmann’s research showed that when given the choice, low-income individuals enjoyed eating a healthy balanced diet. For instance, various LMV participants claimed that although they were low-income they acknowledged and craved healthy fresh foods without pesticides, but simply couldn’t afford them. The interest to eat fresh, organic, locally sourced vegetables and produce is not merely a white middle and upper-middle-class appreciation, they are simply usually the only groups of people who can afford them. The reality of the matter is that it is no longer affordable to maintain a healthy diet in America. Programs like LMV and VV use gardening as a way for low-income individuals, who are most susceptible to food insecurity, to obtain autonomy over their food choices. Gardening allowed many low-income individuals in Santa Clara, California to step outside of the food system that failed to provide them with the fresh produce they desired. Gardening is not only a viable solution to provide food security, but economic security as well. This is seen in how VV programs teach participants in their program to sell their produce to earn an income from their gardening. It is evident that not only are community gardens feasibly able to be incorporated into American cities, but they provide low-income, food-insecure communities, the luxury to consume organic fresh produce.
Urban and Community gardening not only promotes food security, creates community, and establishes a habit of sharing, but it improves eating habits. Nearly all of the participants in the LMV and VV gardening programs reported having largely increased their fruit and vegetable intake since they started gardening. Many participants also indicated that
their diets had diversified since starting a garden. In fact, 85% of the participants claimed to be eating different types of vegetables, and 79% described to be eating more than one type of vegetable from their gardens each day.
Although gardening seems like a viable solution to food security for low-income individuals, based on the LMV and VV programs in Sanat Clara, California, there are constraints with these programs. One of the main constraints is that these programs disproportionately benefitted well-off middle-class individuals instead of their targeted low-income individuals. The reason for this was that these programs were operating in English and communicating with their participants via email. This results in a bias toward the types of people who can participate in these programs. Some of the people who struggle the most with food insecurity are immigrants who do not speak English as their first language, and who might not have access to the internet. Perhaps one of the best ways to truly implement urban and community gardening to prevent food insecurity for low-income communities is to expand outreach. If LMV and VV programs can be implemented using translators of various languages and speaking to them via letters or in-person, more people who would benefit from these gardening programs the most could be reached. Other factors that might prevent the most food-insecure populations from starting their own gardens are lack of time and poor environmental conditions. Many low-income individuals do not have the time and luxury to tend to a garden. And often times, low-income individuals do not have the good rich land and soil needed to maintain a healthy garden. This is why I believe the best way to realistically implement gardening in our societies is not by doing it on our own but in community. Community and urban gardens allow people to share produce with their friends and family, sharing in the process, the work, and the harvest. In fact, on average community gardeners end up giving away 40% of their harvest weight. This shows that establishing urban and community gardens in urban communities not only benefits the gardeners but a wide range of community members as well. Establishing community gardening could be the key to not only promoting food security in low-income communities but a place where people from different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds can come together and share the privilege of eating organic produce.
Low-income communities shouldn’t have to continue to compromise their food preferences because of what they can afford. Community and urban gardens are proven to be a viable solution to food insecurity in our nation, as viewed in the LMV and VV gardening programs in Santa Clara, California. Community and urban gardening is a way to step outside of conventional food systems, bring people together through organic, clean food, and ultimately provide food security in times of uncertainty. Ultimately, this study proves that urban and community gardening is a realistic solution to food insecurity in the U.S. Maybe then can the 13.5 million Americans who suffer from insufficient or uncertain access to food find relief.
The Environment Matters
The Environment Matters
Because food insecurity has been such a huge issue globally, many scholars have tried to find solutions to the issue of food poverty. One author, Jefferey D. Sachs, in his book The Age of Sustainable Development suggests that in order to end world hunger, we must acknowledge that “Climate change and other environmental changes threaten future food production” and “The food system itself is a major contributor to climate change and other environmental harms” (Sachs 2015, 318). Like myself, Sachs acknowledges that our food systems are not unsustainable for our communities and the environment. The lack of producing food locally, and importing nearly all our country’s food, products, and services have a massively negative impact on the environment. Likely, the unsustainable habits that Americans have of being so wasteful are detrimentally harming the earth. It is ironic because although food insecurity is such an issue in the U.S., affecting millions annually, tons of food is wasted every day. The U.S. produces approximately 19 million tons of food waste each year, with about 40% of the country's food being thrown out. Not only that, but the U.S. is also the leading contributor to plastic pollution in our oceans. It is evident that waste is a prominent issue in America, that as Sachs claimed, must be stopped before the damaged environment continues to threaten future food production in our nation.
Not only is Italy leading in its food system chain, which enables food security, but it is making prominent steps toward reducing waste. In 2016 Italy passed a law to reduce the estimated 5 million tons of food waste they produce every year. This law made it easier to donate food, cutting waste by 1 million tons. Italy generates more than a third of its electricity from renewable sources, such as hydroelectric, solar, and wind power, and has surpassed a European Union goal to recycle 65% of urban waste by 2025. The U.S. on the other hand has a recycling crisis. Where every year, Americans generate 180 million tons of solid waste, 70% of which goes straight into landfills. Something that was discussed in my interview with Professor Ivano, and that I noticed during my time living in Italy was that the Italian recycling system is extremely efficient. Professor Ivano described how although many Italians were not happy about being charged for the garbage they produced, producing less waste decreased the amount of garbage that was incinerated, which significantly improved the air quality of the country. Now recycling has become a part of Italy’s daily life and routine. Professor Ivano concluded our interview by claiming that trash is a public issue that can only be fixed through political action.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As the human population continues to grow at exponential rates, the topic of food security and sustainability will continue to be more prevalent. It is time that we adopt Italian practices of gardening and producing food locally to provide food security, as well as sustainable action in producing less waste and increasing recycling. Although I acknowledge that Italy is a far smaller country than the U.S., and so implementing environmental changes may have been easier for the Italian government to impose than it might be for the U.S., it is evident that there is no political will to change at the moment. Our country's system for the disposal of garbage and lack of recycling will one day have to change. I just hope the damages will not be too far gone when policies to reduce waste are finally implemented. Environmental uncertainty and global warming continue to be major issues we have to live with. With unstable weather, trashed oceans, and polluted skies, a change to sustainability needs to be implemented. Perhaps the first steps towards sustainable action can also help end food insecurity in our nation. Whether that be through policy or an organized implementation of food sharing, the U.S. has a lot they can learn from Italy. Ultimately, it is time the U.S. acknowledge that producing more foods locally, starting urban and community gardens, and making regulations to discourage being wasteful, can not only enable a cleaner environment but possibly end hunger in our nation once and for all.
Bibliography
Bibliography
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