91原创

Aspiring registered dietitians in the 91原创鈥檚 College of Health Sciences are helping redesign food pantries with cultural awareness in mind. 

First-year Master of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics/Dietetic Internship students in Shannon Robson鈥檚 Nutrition Program Planning and Evaluation course teamed up with the (FBD) to conduct a community needs assessment to identify the wants and needs of residents so available food options could be more culturally appropriate.  

Robson, an associate professor in the Department of Behavioral Health and Nutrition and a 91原创 graduate (Class of 2007, College of Health Sciences), who volunteered at the FBD during her college years, has partnered with FBD in the past with the projects looking different each semester pending the needs of the FBD.

鈥淚 think it鈥檚 important for students to be a part of and understand the community in which our University is in,鈥� Robson said. 鈥淎lso, a lot of community organizations don鈥檛 necessarily have the staff to do these data-driven elements, but they really want the information, and it helps them, so I feel like it鈥檚 a win-win.鈥�  

During the spring semester of 2022, the group of four students crafted a that began with analyzing the U.S.. They then sought to better understand the availability of cultural and traditional foods in food pantries compared to residents鈥� preferences and needs.

The surveys, distributed in both English and Spanish, targeted both staff running local food pantries and clients, or 鈥渘eighbors,鈥� as the FBD affectionately calls them. Neighbors were asked what cultural/traditional foods are normally included in their diet, where they find those foods and how often they prepare them at home, and whether those foods are available at their food pantry, and if not, what foods they鈥檇 like to see more readily available.

They spent the month of May analyzing the data. Of 135 , or pantries, 58 responded. Eighty percent said that cultural or traditional foods aren鈥檛 requested.

Out of more than 200 client responses, the majority, or 81% said they don鈥檛 identify with a country or culture outside the U.S., and 92% said the foods at their pantry are culturally relevant to them. 

鈥淵ou could say the majority are happy with the foods provided but it鈥檚 important to recognize the impact change could have on that small percent who aren鈥檛 getting the foods they鈥檙e used to cooking and consuming,鈥� Robson said. 

The 8% who expressed that their food pantry didn鈥檛 supply culturally relevant foods noted they鈥檇 love to see more red meat, including steak, ham hocks, and chorizo. They also wanted to see a more diverse selection of vegetables like okra, yautias, and sweet potatoes, and grains, including roti and naan, available at their local food pantries.  

鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 say their needs weren鈥檛 being met, but they said they wanted more culturally specific meats and rice,鈥� said student Hannah Rater. 

In the 19720 and 19805 zip codes, which have a higher percentage of Hispanic or Latino population than the state, residents said they wanted to see more rice and beans at their pantries. Of respondents in the 19801 zip code, 72% were Black or African American, many of Caribbean descent, who expressed a desire for chitterlings and yellow rice to be stocked on pantry shelves. 

鈥淎s more immigrants come into the U.S. and we think about what that experience is like for them, particularly from a nutrition perspective, trying to find foods that might be traditional is an important piece,鈥� Robson said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 also been a shift in the broader environment related to the importance of diversity that has brought this interest about.鈥�  

Anna McDermott, senior director of workforce and community development for FBD, called providing more culturally relevant foods an 鈥渁rea of concern鈥� for the organization as they continue strategic planning.

After students to senior staff at the Food Bank of Delaware on May 19, McDermott called the steps that would follow 鈥渁chievable.鈥�  

鈥淚 think we鈥檙e part of the way there. We still have work to do, and this is definitely a good starting point for us,鈥� she said. 

Among the students鈥� recommendations: provide more red meat, grains, and vegetables to pantries throughout the state; obtain the culturally relevant meats and rice requested in pantries in corresponding zip codes; and provide more vegan options to a food pantry in Claymont. 

鈥淒iving deeper into individual pantries鈥� specific needs and targeting those populations,鈥� Rater said. 鈥淪ome have a cultural need, and some don鈥檛.鈥� 

That suggestion was spot-on, said McDermott, who indicated next steps include reaching out directly to pantries that responded to the survey to drill down on wants and needs.

鈥淭hat will influence our food sourcing and purchasing to make sure that we鈥檙e connecting those pantries with those foods,鈥� McDermott said. 鈥淲e definitely want anyone who鈥檚 food insecure in the state to access the foods that they need.鈥�

Another aspect of FBD operations involves donations. Student Dani Keenan said the FBD can use the data to rally the community to play a part in providing culturally appropriate items.

鈥淚f people are donating food and they鈥檙e aware of what鈥檚 being requested, then they could make those culturally-relevant donations instead,鈥� Keenan said while stressing that people often donate what they would eat and that may not align with clients鈥� desires.

Leah Brown, community nutrition director at FBD, called this the 鈥減erfect鈥� partnership. 

鈥淭he students did an amazing job,鈥�  Brown said. 鈥淭heir presentation was very thorough and polished. We鈥檙e so appreciative of the work that they鈥檝e done.鈥�  

Now, FBD will use the data from the survey to make more informed decisions and increase overall satisfaction among neighbors. 

鈥淭he fact that the majority of neighbors said that they鈥檙e happy with what we were doing 鈥� that鈥檚 great 鈥� but for the remaining 10%, we still have work to do,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淲e want to go the extra mile to treat humans as humans and provide foods that are culturally relevant that they can identify and that their families will eat. Hopefully, through future endeavors, we鈥檒l be able to provide the food they want and need so they don鈥檛 miss out on getting a free service.鈥�

Brown said she hopes a future group of Robson鈥檚 students could take this data to the next level and break it down by racial and ethnic groups within the Black and African American population, which aren鈥檛 differentiated by subcategories in census data, and consider religious backgrounds that could further inform food decisions.  

鈥淲hen it comes to the Black and African American background groups, it鈥檚 not just one pot 鈥� you have people who are from the Caribbean or parts of Africa; they could be Jamaican, Trinidadian, Haitian-Creole, or Nigerian,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淎 lot of our issues are still racially systemic, so when you see that the Black/African American group in the census is the only group that鈥檚 not broken down into subcategory, it鈥檚 pretty jarring.鈥� 

Teamwork was a crucial part of the intensive project with Robson鈥檚 students taking an assessment to understand their strengths so they could work cohesively together. 

鈥淓ven if you don鈥檛 want to work in community nutrition, it鈥檚 important to have this experience because at some point, you鈥檒l have to work with the community or someone you have to collect data for,鈥� Keenan said.  

Robson said 100% of the credit goes to the students, and she admires their drive to succeed. 

鈥淚 was incredibly proud,鈥� Robson said. 鈥淚 love seeing the growth in students over the course of a semester and to have them step up to this project is really cool. That鈥檚 why I teach.鈥�

Abigail Malle called the hands-on collaboration of conducting a community needs assessment satisfying and well beyond what a student can learn from a textbook. 

鈥淵ou learn when you really apply yourself 鈥� and there鈥檚 a lot not mentioned in a textbook 鈥� the teamwork, the collaboration, the amount of time it takes to create these questions,鈥� Malle said. 鈥淲hen you read in a textbook it might seem simple, but it鈥檚 hard work. It鈥檚 also really rewarding.鈥� 

Holly Delagrange found it valuable to take part in a project with the potential to have a profound impact.  

鈥淭his was our first real-world project,鈥� Delagrange said. 鈥淓verything else has just been for school for a grade. This is the first thing we鈥檝e done that鈥檚 going out into the world for other people to use. It was a good experience to talk to real people, get real data and know that it will be used going forward.鈥�