Food Environment as a Determinant of Vegetable Availability and Intake among Resettled African Refugees in Southeast Queensland, Australia

Abstract

African humanitarian immigrants arriving in Australia encounter a new living environment, which includes the food environment that differs considerably from what they experienced in their home countries and countries of transition. Adapting to this new environment and how this adaptation to the food environment is done influences their home food availability and their dietary habits. Environments influence behaviour while at the same time individuals also influence their environment. The study was guided by the socio-ecological model and examined how the layers within the environment (interpersonal, intrapersonal, institutional, community and public policy) affected the resettled refugees vegetable intake and home vegetable availability. The main aim of this research was to investigate the food environments of Burundian, Congolese and Rwandan refugees resettled in Southeast Queensland in order to understand the factors within these food environments that influence their home vegetable availability and vegetable consumption.