What does food security look like when culture, Country and community are part of the picture?
That’s the question driving a UCRH-led Aboriginal health research project working alongside communities on Bundjalung Country (Northern Rivers) and in Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait Islands).
For many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, food is about much more than what’s available on supermarket shelves. It is deeply connected to culture, family, knowledge-sharing and relationships with the environment. Yet many existing ways of measuring food security focus mainly on financial access to food and can miss these broader influences.
Working closely with community members, investigators Caroline Deen and Associate Professor Veronica Matthews are leading the project Developing Culturally Responsive Household Food Security Indicators. Together with communities and partner organisations, they are exploring how food security can be understood and measured in ways that better reflect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences, priorities and definitions of wellbeing.
The project is built around community leadership and local knowledge. By bringing together community members and stakeholders, the research is helping map the factors that influence food security in different places and identify priorities for action. Over time, the findings will contribute to the development of an Indigenous Household Food Security Measurement Tool that can support future planning, policy and programs.
While the research is still underway, exciting early outputs are already taking shape. Over the coming months, we will share videos created for the participating communities, reporting back on what has been learned so far and highlighting the insights communities identified as most important. These videos are an important way of sharing knowledge back with the people helping shape the research.
If you’d like to learn more, read our related story, Food futures led by culture, which explores community-led approaches to food security and wellbeing.
