Food System Change, Development, and Vulnerability in Semi-Agricultural Areas of Tibet

Abstract

With social and economic development, food systems have significantly changed on the Tibetan plateau over the last two decades. However, the impact of dietary change on Tibetans and their communities remains less well known. This article examines how food change happens in semi-agricultural areas of eastern Tibet within the context of development. To do this, this research proposes an integrated analytical framework that brings together ecology, social and political economy, with food at the center of interrelationships. By focusing on ecology and adopting a systemic approach, this study highlights the connection between biology and sociocultural factors, thereby helping to bridge the lacuna between nutritional anthropology and the anthropology of food. Based on 3 months of fieldwork, the study argues that as an economy develops in semi-agricultural areas, the integrated relationship between ecology and socioeconomic practices is broken down. As a result, people have become increasingly reliant on the market for food resources, leading to the emergence of new food systems. This shift has triggered vulnerabilities in both the social and biological dimensions of people's lives.