Barriers to food acquisition
We identified both structural and socio-economic barriers to food acquisition. These fell into four main categories: limited financial resources, limited/poor language proficiency, limited access to culturally preferred food, and poor knowledge of community-based food resources and services. The majority of respondents identified several barriers to food acquisition. We observed differences in types and levels of barriers based on participants’ food security status, gender, particularly for food insecure mothers, and single mothers, and presence of chronic diseases. Some respondents who were food secure also reported barriers that they had experienced earlier on in the process of their immigration. Throughout the interviews, psychosocial ramifications such as depression, anxiety, the feeling of shame, low self-esteem, and powerlessness related to the four barriers were also expressed by respondents.
Limited financial resources
Inadequate income was identified as the main impediment to accessing adequate food, particularly for those respondents who were food insecure. Insufficient income was related to difficulty finding employment or having low-paying jobs such as waitressing, babysitting, or cleaning; this was despite the fact that many participants were well-educated and had extensive work experience in their country of origin. Their difficulties were often related to language barriers and their qualifications not being recognized in Canada.
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I do not have enough money to buy what we need. I cannot get a job which suits my training. I work odd jobs just to pay the bills and put food on the table. But the pay is not sometimes enough for everything which needs to be paid.
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The seasonal nature of some work, like construction, also meant that participants were unemployed during the long Canadian winter. This was a common barrier for those who were food insecure.
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I do construction work whenever I could get it. The pay is better but it slows down in winter time and then I have difficulty in paying bills and getting food.
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Due to inadequate income, many participants were forced to rely on welfare. However, participants with unstable immigration status refrained from applying for assistance for fear of being discovered and deported. Of those receiving welfare, many indicated that it was insufficient to cover high costs of housing and food. This was true for several of those participants who were food insecure.
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Although we get welfare the rent is very expensive. We cannot find cheaper houses here or anywhere else. Otherwise it would be easier to get nutritious food for my kids.
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It was even more difficult for participants with a physical disability to find work. Most participants noted the lack of government support to newcomers to help them establish private businesses. Some had left their home country believing they could find good jobs in Canada that did not materialize, forcing them to work at whatever job was available.
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I feel cheated and cannot do anything about it. All those interview and documentation to enter to Canada meant nothing. I sometimes feel I should get back. I did not know what hunger meant until I got here.
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Costs associated with transportation posed another barrier to food access; inexpensive grocery stores were often far from participants’ residences and thereby inaccessible without a car or public transit, especially in winter. This issue was mainly raised by respondents who were food insecure.
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The job pays little and near our place they are not that many big food stores like No Frills [A large discount supermarket]. We do not have a car and have to take the TTC [Toronto Transit Commission] for transportation and that is costly when you have to pay for rent and other bills.
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Inadequate income also affected food security by restricting food purchases in terms of quantity and quality. Respondents who were food insecure focused on food quantity and quality whereas those who were food secure mainly talked about food quality. The issue of inadequate quantity of food and poor/less desirable quality of food was compounded by the seasonal availability of some foods, which makes them hard to find and more expensive in winter.
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Foods are more expensive in Canada, especially fruits and vegetables compared to Mexico. We are used to eating fresh food and here we find it impossible.
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To stay within our budget I do not buy fresh vegetables or fruits anymore. Here we eat either frozen food or out of a can because those are cheap and we can afford.
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Use of food banks was reported mainly by respondents from food insecure households. However, a few respondents who were food secure also used food banks. Frequency varied from one to four times a month. It was not clear whether frequency of use was dictated by food bank regulations or individual need. Many of the participants who did use food banks found the food to be low-quality, culturally unacceptable, and insufficient:
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They offer limited variety of foods and they do not cater for those who have health conditions and require special diets. Almost everything is canned and sometimes we do not know what we are taking home. You cannot get fresh food and if you are lucky to get them they are almost rotten.
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We sometimes eat one meal a day as we are a family of five and we only get food from the food bank - “toca aguantar” [what can one do?]x
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Access to food banks was also limited for some, e.g., participants with unstable immigration status could not use food banks that requested identification documentation. In addition, food bank hours sometimes overlapped with school or work hours, making it difficult for some to get food: “I do not get there soon enough to get food.”
Health impact of food insecurity
Participants’ responses revealed physical and psychological stresses resulting from inadequate income. Some worried that dependency on high calorie and high fat foods might result in health problems such as becoming overweight; a few mentioned that they had gained weight since coming to Canada. Many mothers worried about not providing enough nutrients for their growing children:
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My children are growing and they need food to keep their strengths. I try to give them meat from time to time but that is not enough. Sometime if we have some extra money I give them fresh vegetables with cooked meat. I am concerned about their health. I hate myself when I give them junk food rather than real food.
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I haven’t got enough money to buy infant formula for my kid … I am quite worried about my children. They are not getting what they should. I feel useless.
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Insufficient income particularly affected women, single mothers, pregnant women, and mothers with infants. Women appeared to jeopardize their food intake to benefit their children’s and partners’ dietary intake. As one woman stated:
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Often when there is not enough food for everyone I make sure that my children and husband are fed first. Those are the priorities. I still am concerned about not providing enough nutrients for my growing children.
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Another group that was particularly affected were individuals requiring special diets (e.g., to manage chronic diseases like diabetes or food allergies/sensitivities such as lactose intolerance). People with chronic diseases were unable to afford foods specified for their health, avoid inexpensive but unhealthy options, eat at recommended times due to long shift work schedules; some could not afford to buy supplements for their condition such as calcium for osteoporosis.
Many participants resorted to obtaining food from food banks, family/friends, or institutions such as churches. However, this was complicated by stigma; inability to provide for ones’ family was culturally unacceptable for some participants. Some were so ashamed that they refused to use food banks or ask for help from friends/family:
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Every time I go to food bank I make sure that no one who I know sees me there. I feel ashamed and undignified. Thanks God my children are small and do not understand what is happening here. My family back home do not know how we live like this.
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The constant worry about money and the related aspects of having to adjust to lower social positions made them depressed.
Language barriers
Language barriers were another common problem identified by many respondents who were food insecure. A few respondents who were food secure also mentioned they had language problems currently, or they had them previously, which had impeded their ability to be food secure at the time. Many participants could not speak English or French well, which led to problems obtaining food. One participant stated,
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My English is not so good. I have difficulty reading the food labels and communicating to shop keeper what I need when purchasing food.
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Others noted that labels were not clear or easily interpretable and that they could not understand the ingredients and nutritional composition of foods, making it difficult to evaluate the quality and health consequences of the foods.
Language barriers also restricted shopping choices. Some participants said that it was more difficult to shop in small grocery/convenience stores where they had to ask the storekeeper for food, rather than large chain stores where they could search for food on their own. One participant said,
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Language has been a challenge. I want to ask for certain foods at the store but I do not know the words.
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Language barriers also prevented participants from benefiting from food-related information from media and printed materials (newspaper flyers, discount coupons):
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I do not know where to get the discount coupons for foods I purchase or where or what is on sale. Sometimes my friends take me there but most time we miss them. I wish those announcements were offered also in Spanish.
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Beyond the practical limitations of language barriers for food access, some participants, mainly women, noted that not being able to communicate while grocery shopping contributed greatly to their social exclusion and depression:
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Back home, grocery shopping is a daily routine that offer the opportunity for social interaction with other people. Here I feel isolated and depressed as I do not speak the language and cannot go out to talk to others.
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Although many participants were enrolled in English as a Second Language classes, such programs were perceived to be limited by lack of advanced English language opportunities or opportunities for practice.
Cultural food preferences
Another barrier was related to cultural food preference and the lack of culturally-appropriate resources. As indicated earlier food security does not only mean having enough food but also ability to freely access culturally preferred food. Vegetables, fruits, and meats that were common in participants’ home countries were often hard to find and expensive in Canada:
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I have tried to look for foods that I am used to back home, but I have not been lucky. I would like to eat fruits such as guava, papaya, nopales (prickly pear), icama (Mexican potato). We now mainly eat cereals, pasta, rice, and legumes.
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Many participants also said that the quality, taste, and smell of some foods differed from those in their home countries. Although both food secure and food insecure participants raised this issue of quality of food, this was one of the main barriers cited by the former group. Food secure people’s main complaint was that foods in Canada do not taste the same as their native countries. In particular, many said that fruits, meat, and cheese were bland and they associated the poor taste with poor nutritional quality.
Some participants considered Canadian food habits unhealthy and complained that many foods were “too fatty/oily,” “too sweet,” “too spicy,” or “too salty.” They indicated that frozen and fast foods (which are readily available and often more affordable) had low nutritional value and were potential health hazards, especially for young children.
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All the ready-to-eat food I found to be unhealthy here. The frozen foods are salty and full of preservative and dye. Fast food (is) too oily and nothing is fresh about the meat … In Colombia we cook everything from scratch. My mom goes shopping every day, buys everything fresh and then cooks them. It is really something new here and you have to adjust.
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Participants noted that few stores carried ethnic foods in some neighbourhoods, and explained that these stores helped them stay “connected to home type food.” One participant stated,
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It is nice to see that some larger food chain stores like “No Frills” carry some of our ethnic food at reasonable prices. I hope other stores do the same.
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Many respondents felt that most community-based resources like food banks offered culturally-inappropriate and limited foods, mainly canned and dried foods like bread, pasta, and canned tomatoes that some participants did not know how to prepare. Similar comments were voiced by some participants who ate at shelters.
Some participants had adjusted their preferences and had started eating some Canadian foods, which were more available and cheaper. Several food secure respondents mentioned that they took advantage of the readily available frozen foods.
Limited information about community-based food resources was another common barrier to food security. Some participants did not know where to obtain cheaper foods or specific foods (ethnic, organic) at reasonable prices. This issue was raised mainly by those who were food insecure. This was especially true in the first years in Canada as stated by one of the food secure participant:
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It took us two years to find out that the foods we wanted such as granola and other grains could be purchased in bulk from bulk food stores at reasonable prices. I wish we had some information beforehand.
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Some participants were unaware of Canadian support programs such as welfare, child supplements, and food banks, because these were not available in their home countries:
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Our knowledge is limited about any of the programs and services that are available in Canada because none of them exist back home. It would be good to get a list of available resources…then we know what to do or where to go.
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Another problem (raised mainly by food insecure participants) was related to misinformation about available resources. Information was often provided by family/friends, other community members, and community and government agencies, and the different sources sometimes provided conflicting information. One respondent said,
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the information varies depending on who you talk to. So at the end you do not really know if you are eligible or not
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