Abstract
‘I skip my meal to wait for [mother] to come back and at least we can have the same amount of food . . . [We] starve together through the whole day, so at least we will have had something to eat’ (p. 224). Fifteen-year-old Amara lives in a London hostel with her mother, who cannot claim benefits for immigration reasons. Amara is not alone in these experiences: Portuguese 12-year-old Bianca explains how ‘This month I won’t ask for much [food]’ (p. 120) when she sees that supplies are running low, while Norwegian Rebeka, aged 14, describes how ‘We can’t eat whatever we want. No, we can’t eat yoghurt if we already have eaten one that day, only when it is our first’ (p. 122). Such accounts bring to life the human experiences of poverty and food provisioning in times of extreme scarcity, from parents who did not eat ‘for days at times’ (p. 96) to children making excuses for limiting their own social lives for lack of funds, such as 14-year-old migrant to Norway Antonio, who rejected the ‘unhealthy’ (p. 180) (and unaffordable) fast food outlets frequented by his friends.
The ambitious scope of Families and Food in Hard Times – the culmination of a £1 million European Research Council grant – is matched only by the quality, depth and detail of the accounts it describes. The research contrasts the UK, Portugal and Norway to illustrate and compare the legacy of the 2008 financial crisis on nations defined by austerity (the UK), bailout (Portugal) and the welfare state (Norway). It takes a cross-national, comparative mixed-methods case study design to explore the dynamics of food provisioning in poverty at three levels: national, neighbourhood and household. Secondary analyses of the EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions provide quantitative context to underpin in-depth interviews with 133 households. This work is distinguished by its sheer breadth, encompassing topics from food provisioning on a low income, help seeking, responsibility for food work and the material, social and emotional consequences of food poverty, resulting in a richly textured account of food provisioning among European families with children.
The book is meticulously researched to expertly contextualise participants’ individual experiences within the economic and social context. For example, we learn how Maggie, a lone British mother who is unable to work owing to mental health problems, scrapes by through a blend of formal support from statutory and third-sector agencies, and informal financial help from neighbours in exchange for cleaning, childcare and other ‘good deeds’ (p. 196). In this way, the book valorises participants’ agency without diminishing its place within the structural constraints of different country contexts.
By interviewing parents and their 11–15-year-old children, the book enables a complete and sometimes contradictory account of familial food experiences. For example, British 15-year-old Bryony reported going without meals despite her lone mother’s painstaking economising strategies and insistence that her two teenagers are well fed. The approach also reveals young people’s acute awareness of their parents’ sacrifices, such as 10-year-old Ana from Portugal’s concern ‘Because I know my mother [and my father] face hardships . . . and I also wanted to be grown up to help them’ (p 178).
The title also advances our knowledge of the topic in key ways. The incorporation of race shines a light onto previously underexplored dimensions of food poverty. The dynamics of racism manifest in different ways in the three settings, with the detailed qualitative approach revealing how race both increases the risk of food poverty and stymies attempts to mitigate this experience.
While the book interviews both parents and children, the voices of fathers or other men are strikingly absent. Here, the authors here are continuing a tradition of interviewing women about food provisioning dating back to Pember Reeves’ seminal research in 1913. If indeed no male caregivers were involved in this way, I would like more critical reflection on the gendered nature of food provisioning and continued absence of men in this activity.
The authors Skillfully identify features of the social, economic and policy terrain that contribute to food poverty in the study countries, such as difference in the availability, quality and cost of school meals. By focusing on such details, the book has potential to inform rigorous evidence-based policy recommendations. This would ideally have been a more prominent focus for the book and could enhance engagement from those with political influence, and I would have liked greater emphasis here.
Notwithstanding these minor limitations, which ought not to distract from its considerable contribution to understanding the material, social, emotional consequences of food poverty, the book is highly readable, making it accessible to undergraduate and postgraduate students. It will no doubt become an influential title for readers across disciplines including sociology, human geography and public health.