'It is human work': qualitatively exploring community roles that facilitate cultural food security for people from refugee backgrounds.

Abstract

Objectives: Cultural food security is crucial for cultural health and, for people from refugee backgrounds, supports the settlement journey. Cultural communities are vital in facilitating access to cultural foods; however, it is not understood how refugee-background communities sustain cultural food security in the Australian context. This study aimed to explore key roles in refugee-background communities to understand why they were important and how they facilitate cultural food security.

Design: Interviews were conducted by community researchers, and data analysis was undertaken using best-practice framework for collaborative data analysis.

Setting: Greater Brisbane, Australia.

Participants: Six interviews were conducted between August and December 2022 with people from a refugee-background community, lived in Greater Brisbane and who fulfilled a key food role in the community that facilitated access to cultural foods.

Results: Fostering improved cultural food security supported settlement by creating connections across geographical locations and cultures and generated a sense of belonging that supported the settlement journey. Communities utilised communication methods that prioritised the knowledge, wisdom and experience of community members. It also provided community members with influence over their foodways. Community leaders had an ethos that reflected collectivist values, where community needs were important for their own health and well-being.

Conclusions: Communities are inherently structured and communicate in a way that allows collective agency over foodways. This agency promotes cultural food security and is suggestive of increased food sovereignty. Researchers and public health workers should work with communities and recognise community strengths. Food security interventions should target cultural food security and autonomy.