NEWSLETTER #4
FOOD POLICY LAB | DECEMBER 2021
MESSAGE FROM THE PI
Phew! December 2021. Another doozy of a pandemic year for the Food Policy Lab.
We laughed, even when we felt heavy. We were tired, anxious, inspired.
We were glad to have each other as a team. We sharpened our priorities. We reminded ourselves of our strengths. We created new infrastructure for future research. We taught each other new skills and shared them widely too.
We saw how changes in our consumer food environments and dietary behaviour could shift overnight during this pandemic. We also found signs of a long trajectory to come in how the pandemic risks widening structural disparities in food access.
We were grateful for public institutions and public servants working under exceptional circumstances. And for systems of public and population health. And vaccines!
We saw the power of publicly funded research, and were proud to be contributing to the scientific enterprise as well as the science-policy interface in Canada.
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In this issue, we spend our Researcher Spotlight with PhD student Helen Wong, a former dietitian and healthcare researcher whose thesis will dive into the rapidly evolving world of online grocery shopping, and how it will shape population diets.
The Project Spotlight highlights a remote knowledge exchange event we hosted to convene healthy retailing practitioners in Canada and Australia. We hope that these inspiring health promoters, working in common despite serving very different retail food environment contexts, will have the chance to meet each other in person soon.
How do city residents see and use their local convenience stores, and how does this shape the response to healthy food environment interventions? This issue’s Publication Spotlight shares a recent publication in Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition led by former lab postdoc Meghan Lynch. Meghan’s CIHR Fellowship with Dr. Mah, in partnership with Ottawa Public Health, examined the sociocultural context for the healthy corner store intervention model through a set of novel social media analyses.
We explore population level consumption of alcoholic beverages in our Infographic, and leave you with a beverage Recipe as well.
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Most of all, we wish you a restful holiday, with hope, joy, and strength to tackle 2022. See you soon. We’ll be here.
-Cathy
RESEARCHER SPOTLIGHT: helen wong
This month I had the pleasure of interviewing Helen Wong. Helen is currently a PhD student working in the Food Policy Lab. She graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Science in Nutrition and Food from Ryerson University and went on to complete her dietetic internship at The Hospital for Sick Children. In 2015, she completed her Master of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics from Central Michigan University. For her PhD, Helen will take a look at online grocery shopping as a new digital food environment. In this spotlight, we discuss what drew Helen to a career in health, online grocery shopping, unpacking the complexities around food being medicine and so much more!
-Maria
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Can you tell us about your thesis topic?
My thesis topic is still evolving. I will be exploring online grocery shopping. What I’d like to look at is the online platform as a digital food environment. In terms of grocery shopping, I tentatively want to examine how people behave online and determine if it’s different than in a store.
Do you have any ideas what you might see in that research? Is it better or worse?
From what I’ve read, it seems like it could go either way for healthy eating. There is evidence to suggest in an online environment there’s a greater likelihood of purchasing “should foods” rather than “desired foods.” Customers might make healthier choices because they can plan ahead and there’s less of that instant satisfaction in purchasing a chocolate bar and eating it. But we also know people tend to base their purchasing decisions on other things like brand loyalty over price sensitivity. So, it’s hard to say if online shopping is better or worse for making healthy choices. Shopping online is an easy way to stock up on healthy staples for your house, but it can also be an easy way to stock up on unhealthy things like chips and sweets.
Prior to COVID-19, I think people were less inclined to purchase produce online which would also impact healthy eating. I actually avoided online grocery shopping until just recently when we had to self-isolate due to a possible COVID-19 exposure. I got some weird green onions that I wouldn’t have picked, they were almost abnormal. But they did a great job picking my watermelons, so maybe it’s luck of the draw, I don’t know.
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PROJECT SPOTLIGHT: peas in a pod
Peas in a Pod was a remote knowledge exchange forum for healthy retailing practitioners, organized by Laura Kennedy, PhD candidate in the lab and Emily Jago, our research manager. Support for the forum came from Dalhousie’s new Vice-President Research and Innovation International Seed Fund (VPRIIS Fund), an internal fund intended to support the development of international research initiatives between Dalhousie researchers and their global partners. This forum provided a (virtual) platform for practitioners across diverse retailing contexts in Canada and Australia to share practical expertise and experiences with researcher-practitioner partnerships within the community retail environment, with a focus on population health intervention research initiatives. Highlights of the forum included a Fireside chat facilitated by Dr. Rebecca Hasdell featuring Khia De Silva from Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation and Taylor Nicholson from Nova Scotia Health.
To learn more and watch a recording of Khia and Taylor’s insightful conversation, click on the button below!
Publication Spotlight: “Fronts for Drugs, Money Laundering, and Other Stuff”: Convenience Stores in the Retail Food Environment - M Lynch, CL Mah
Lynch, Meghan*, and Catherine L. Mah. “Fronts for drugs, money laundering, and other stuff”: Convenience stores in the retail food environment. Accepted to Journal of Hunger and Environmental Nutrition, November 2021. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19320248.2021.2002747
What is a convenience store and what role does it play in community food environments? How do city residents see and use their local stores?
This article draws from a larger qualitative research project comprising interviews, social media analyses, and knowledge exchange led by Meghan during her postdoctoral fellowship with the lab, funded by a CIHR Fellowship and Ottawa Public Health through their healthy corner stores initiative. Using qualitative methods allowed us to unpack the sociocultural context for small stores in urban environments and to posit how this shapes the response to healthy retail food environment interventions.
INFOGRAPHIC
How is alcoholic beverage intake measured and accounted for in dietary surveillance? In our understanding of consumer budgeting and household food purchasing? What role do alcoholic beverages play in the consumer response to food environments? The last two years of COVID-19 have prompted many new public health questions about the effects of the pandemic on population level alcohol intake, but also how this is associated with other changes in diet and consumer behaviour. This month’s infographic illustrates baseline levels of alcoholic beverage consumption from our last nationally representative dietary surveillance survey in 2015, the Canadian Community Health Survey - Nutrition.
-Gabriella and Maria
To save this infographic, first click on it - this will take you to a new webpage. Then right click on the graphic and choose “Save image as..” Select your desired location on your computer and save!
what’s cooking at FPL: leche Merengada recipE
Although we didn’t make it to Barcelona this year for the IPPA Conference in July (!) we’re still enjoying the tasty treats of Spain. This dessert beverage is similar to a North American milkshake and will leave you feeling refreshed. Like me, I hope you’re transported to the vibrant streets of Spain when you sip on this Leche Merengada, particularly in a time where travel is restricted. Enjoy!
Prep and cook time: 20 minutes
Time to freeze: 2.5 hours
Serves: 4-5
Modified from: https://www.thespruceeats.com/easy-leche-merengada-recipe-3082981
- Emily
Recipe
4 cups whole milk
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
1 cinnamon stick
Zest of 1 lemon (pre-wash)
4 egg whites
Pinch of powdered cinnamon (optional but highly recommended)
Note: If you avoid dairy, alternative milks will also work! I prefer traditional lactose-free milk, but oat, almond, rice or cashew milk would substitute well.
Method:
Grate the lemon peel onto a plate or into a small bowl. Be careful to remove only the yellow portion of the lemon peel.
Pour the milk, 1 cup sugar, cinnamon stick, and the lemon zest into a medium-sized saucepan and heat on medium-high. As the milk begins to boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
Once cooled, remove the cinnamon stick and strain the milk through cheesecloth to remove the grated lemon zest. If you don’t have cheesecloth, a fine sieve or strainer will work.
Separate egg whites (or use egg whites from a carton and follow the equivalence instructions). Pour the egg whites and remaining sugar into a clean, dry glass bowl. Beat eggs whites to a stiff peak.
Pour the milk into a large glass or ceramic mixing bowl, and carefully fold in the egg whites with a rubber spatula until the mixture is well incorporated.
Cover the bowl, sealing it tightly. Place into the freezer for at least 2 1/2 hours. Remove from the freezer and mix on low speed with an electric mixer before serving.
Serve very cold in a tall glass with a long spoon or straw. Top with powdered cinnamon if desired.
Enjoy!
Congratulations to…
Helen Wong, who was awarded The Paul and Mary O’Regan Graduate Research Award in the 2021/2022 Heart & Stroke BrightRed Student Research Awards competition. She has also been nominated for the Vanier Award.
Laura Kennedy, who recently passed her PhD Health candidacy exams.
Noel Guscott, who has accepted a Project Lead position with Digital Nova Scotia, Alisson Dykeman who has accepted a position with the University of Ottawa as a Health Promotion Specialist, and Maria Clarke who also now works for Dillon Consulting Ltd as a GIS Analyst. Best of luck to you all!
