Food networks in migrant families: mixed methods to analyze the relationship of ingredients and food consumption strategies in Argentina

Abstract

This paper presents an analysis of food practice and representations of a particular migration process of rural families in South America that has moved, during the last 30 years, from Central Andean uplands to suburb lowlands in the Southern metropolitan area of Buenos Aires (Argentina). We implemented a mixed methods strategy, combining a qualitative methodology with an ethnographic perspective (including participation in local activities within both areas of interest), a quantitative approach (including database analysis with dish information), and social network analysis, which allowed us to formalize the links between ingredients, territories, local memories, and the importance of food sovereignty as well as collective identity in the context of migration. The results allowed us to identify: a) ingredient replacement in the original territory, due to the incorporation of food industry, modifying both the products consumed and the time dedicated to these activities; b) ingredient replacement in the destination territory, given the lack of access to most of the required elements to recreate family food; c) food alliances established between Jujuy migrant families and other Central Andean migrant populations; and d) the importance of a subset of ingredients and species that families try to hold in both territories.