Changing Places, Changing Plates? A Binational Comparison of Barriers and Facilitators to Healthful Eating Among Central American Communities

To understand the process by which immigrants adopt dietary practices, this study offers a binational comparison of factors that predispose, enable, and reinforce healthful eating in the sending and receiving countries. Data are from two qualitative studies that examined barriers and facilitators to healthful eating in El Salvador (four focus groups, n = 28 adults) and in the US (30 in-depth interviews n = 15 mothers recently migrated from Central America). There was a strong emphasis on hygiene and vitamin-content of foods among participants in El Salvador. In both settings, participants perceived that their respective community food environments (schools, food stores) exposed their families to highly processed, unhealthful foods. In both settings, they described similar struggles to encourage their families to eat foods healthfully (traditional, home-made foods). These results underscore the importance of acknowledging the changing food environment in sending countries where people may already be exposed to processed foods.