Does Home and Wild Food Procurement Enhance Food Security in High-Income Countries?

Purpose of review: Many people in high-income countries obtain considerable portions of their diets from gardening, hunting, fishing, foraging, and raising animals. Yet food security research in these countries has focused on the roles of commercial and charitable food systems, ignoring non-market food self-provisioning. This review brings together existing evidence to build a holistic understanding of how home and wild food procurement (HWFP) interacts with various dimensions of food security in high-income societies.

Recent findings: HWFP impacts food security in multiple ways. It can increase food availability, improve dietary quality, provide access to otherwise unaffordable foods, and support the stability of household food supplies through personal hardships and societal shocks, though further research is needed to substantiate when, where, and how these relationships hold. Engaging in HWFP provides people with agency over their food sources and can contribute to shrinking the ecological consequences of food sourcing. However, researchers have identified numerous food safety risks associated with HWFP, as well as ways in which these practices can threaten the sustainability of food systems. More research is needed regarding HWFP's potential to contribute to the overall food supplies of high-income countries, during crises as well as in periods of stability. HWFP clearly contributes to food security in high-income countries, but many of the concrete contours of this contribution remain to be revealed. Food security researchers should further account for the effects of HWFP, and scholars studying HWFP activities should consider food security as both a driver and potential consequence of engaging in these practices.