Incomplete documentation, social isolation, and culinary estrangement: Factors affecting food security among urban migrant populations in Mexico

Abstract

This paper describes some of the factors that contribute to food insecurity among the growing populations of migrants who reside in Mexico City. It contributes to a growing body of literature that focuses on the relationship between migration and food security by qualitatively analyzing the specific challenges faced by migrants who are (semi)permanently settled in an urban area (rather than border region). The main argument of this paper is that although many of the challenges faced by migrants in terms of food insecurity are parallel to those faced by low-income citizens and internal migrants in Mexico City, migrants face unique challenges that contribute to their increased vulnerability. These challenges have political/bureaucratic, social, and economic dimensions. The paper argues that incomplete documentation, culinary estrangement and social isolation pose specific challenges to migrants that compound their difficulty in achieving individual and household food security.