Food policy lab & planifax

Food choices are deeply personal. We eat what we know and like, what tastes good, and what we can afford.

Food choices are also social. We eat what our friends and families prefer. We eat where we live and work and play and learn. We choose foods in our neighbourhoods. We choose based on how we commute. We choose foods based on what is available and accessible in our communities, food systems, and the economy.

Food shopping, and our food environments, are important issues for public policy. We partnered with the Halifax-based PLANifax Production Cooperative to show you how and why.

Advancing our understanding of planning and functioning of consumer food environments can show us patterns of who holds power, how resources are distributed, and the scale and path of the challenge to achieve social equity, because most of the policy levers to enact lasting change for healthier diets, healthier populations, and inclusive societies lie well outside of food.