Two african immigrant graduate students reflect on food access, food (in)security, and community during the pandemic

Abstract

Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has presented major disruptions in not just human interaction on a personal level, but also to food systems. Food insecurity has been exacerbated by the pandemic because of isolation, suspension of travel, and disturbances in food supply chains. This reflection paper highlights the challenges that two female immigrant doctoral students, a Ghanaian and a Zambian, have faced with respect to food access and a sense of community within the context of the pandemic. We use personal narratives to highlight the possible impacts that the pandemic has had on food (in)security, and on food as comfort and connector. We also describe the strategies that we have tried to employ to foster preexisting networks as a means of mitigating the effects of the pandemic. It is our goal that this reflection would provide the basis for the formulation of critical research questions related to food access and food insecurity of African immigrant populations.