Trajectories of dietary change and the social context of migration: a qualitative study

The aim of this article was to explore the influence of migration on changes in dietary practices, relating these changes to the social contexts in which they occur. Numerous studies have described how migration from poor countries and regions to more developed ones leads migrants to adopt a modern diet associated to the risk of acquiring chronic diseases. However, different contexts might influence dietary change in migrants in diverse ways. For this purpose, 28 semi-structured interviews were conducted with adult, female internal migrants to a border city in Mexico. The interviews were analyzed using thematic analysis. The results showed trajectories of dietary change to be associated to social position before and after migration. For the participants from rural areas, migration was accompanied by an increase in the consumption of processed foods, and also changes in food insecurity. Migrants who came from urban areas reported a decrease in the perceived quality of food available to them, but their eating pattern was modified only slightly. For some interviewees, migration resulted in the possibility to choose what to eat in a more autonomous way. We discuss how the effect of migration on dietary changes can be manifold, and the necessity to delve into how social context influences these changes.