Food, Nutrition, and Health

We’re providing knowledge that can generate solutions. 

The Food Inequality Project

We created the Food Inequality Project to study food access and health on Long Island. The purpose of the study is to generate new knowledge that can inform programs and policies to increase access to nutritious food and improve health among the region’s disadvantaged populations and communities.

The Truth and the Facts: Food Inequality on Long Island
- Full Report (PDF 1.6MB)
- Executive Summary (PDF 348KB)
- Media Advisory (PDF 106KB)
- Photovoice Slideshow (PDF 3.6MB)

The report – “The Truth and The Facts: Food Inequality on Long Island“- represents the first comprehensive look at the social, economic, and emotional dimensions of food poverty. While we have some quantitative data on the numbers of people who are food insecure, we know very little about what it looks and feels like to be food poor, particularly in a region so well known for its affluence. And while we are able to map the location of food retailers across the area, we have little firsthand information about how people actually negotiate their food environments:

• Why do they access food where they do?
• What do they do when they have no money for food?
• What choices do people really have?
• How do these experiences affect self-perception and community dynamics?
• How do these experiences impact feelings of power or powerlessness and outlooks on the future?
• In what ways do people think their lives and their communities can be improved?

These are some of the questions that require answers in order to think through new strategies not only to feed but to empower Long Island residents.

To answer these questions, the report focuses on one Suffolk County community–the Mastics and Shirley–which has been devastated by the Great Recession. The report is driven by the perspectives of 35 research participants whose narratives highlight the manner in which economic insecurity and community issues intersect to affect experiences with food. It is also punctuated with nearly 30 telling photographs taken by participants to show what it looks and feels like to be food poor.

Methods for this project involve:

• Key informant interviews
• Community resident interviews
• Ethnography
• The participatory action research method Photovoice

The project was made possible by iSoRCE funding from Cathy Nelkin Miller and Patrick Smalley.

Student Films about Food and Nutrition

As part of their coursework, and in partnership with iSoRCE, students in the Adelphi University course Communications 450: Documentary Production were asked to produce, film, and edit short videos concerning food and nutrition on Long Island. The videos are intended to increase public awareness about food justice issues.

Food System Indicator Project

(Currently in development)

This ambitious project examines and analyzes the state of Long Island’s food system based on a range of indicators, including agricultural production, food consumption, food distribution, environmental protection, food safety and emergency preparedness, agricultural employment and wages, consumer food access, and community health. This assessment will serve as the basis for community discussions about the potential for action in policy and program development and the subsequent publication of recommendations for a safe, fair, and economically and environmentally viable food system.