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Street Food as Infrastructure: consumer mobility, vendor removability and food security in Mexico City
Abstract
Street food vendors are a ubiquitous but controversial feature of
Mexico City’s foodscapes; in the context of urban renewal and
modernization projects, vendors are frequently portrayed as backwards, dirty, and undesirable and are targeted for removal. While
most studies of such processes focus on the implications for ven- 10
dors themselves, this article asks about the implications of street
vendor removal and removability for those who consume these
foods on a regular basis. The article adopts a mobilities framework
in order to argue that street food needs to be understood in
relation to consumers’ everyday mobilities as part of poor and 15
working class people’s food security, and as an urban infrastructure
more broadly.
... An important factor to be considered is the daily mobility of inhabitant of Mexico City and its metropolitan area. On average, Mexico City residents spend 88 minutes a day in transit, either by public transport (51%), walking (66%) and private transport (22%) (Hayden, 2021; Instituto Nacional de Estadístíca y Geografía, 2018a, b). If we add to this the time people spend at work or in education, we can assume people spend a significant amount of time out of home. ...
... If we add to this the time people spend at work or in education, we can assume people spend a significant amount of time out of home. Thus, as suggested by Hayden (2021), only considering the food environment around people's homes can be a limitation as we assume that people are stationary. Therefore, it is important to consider that inhabitants are indeed exposed to a wider food offer while in transit, especially from street food vendors that tend to locate in busy circulatory networks like transport hubs. ...
... Additionally, there are socioeconomic and demographic factors such as social class and occupation that can play a role in the interaction between food environment and daily mobility. It has been suggested that those with higher income might be able to afford eating in restaurants or in workplaces, while low-income people rely more on street food vendors which tend to be much cheaper and widely available (Hayden, 2021). Accurate assessment of the food environment to which people are exposed will require a survey to collect, geolocation of their homes, workplace or school, as well as their mode of transport and transportation routes. ...
The public health burden of obesity and non-communicable diseases in Mexico is one of the highest in the world, and one of its main causes is the change in diet of the population. The urban food environment has been suggested as a key contributor towards the increasing deterioration in diets. Our objective was to present the first spatial and health characterization of the food environment of Mexico City. The data source was the National Statistics Directory of Economic Units 2020, which provides data on the urban supply of food and beverages. Food outlets were classified into 14 types according to the food items that are mainly sold. Local spatial autocorrelation methods were used to assess the existence of spatial patterns. The results suggest all types of food outlet showed high- density clusters and low -density clusters, with the geographic location of these clusters varying based on the type of establishment and by socioeconomic status of the census tracts. This paper puts forward a health-based classification of food retail outlets, to identify the spatial distribution of food outlets in relation to nutrition and health. This could guide researchers and policymakers towards improvements, particularly to direct interventions towards specific areas of the city.
... In order to generate healthy and equitable food environments in Mexico, local authorities should consider informal retailers as part of their development initiatives (26)(27)(28). Over the years, the informal food sector has provided autonomy and a source of income to marginalized populations, while contributing to a fair distribution of local resources in LMIC (26,27,29,30). Women in poor communities have particularly taken advantage of the informal food sector to contribute to their families' food security (26,27). ...
Background:
The retail food environment in Mexico is characterized by the co-existence of both, formal and informal food outlets. Yet, the contribution of these outlets to food purchases over time has not been documented. Understanding the longitudinal trends where Mexican households purchase their foods is critical for the development of future food retail policies.
Methods:
We used data from Mexico's National Income and Expenditure Survey from 1994 to 2020. We categorized food outlets as formal (supermarkets, chain convenience stores, restaurants), informal (street markets, street vendors, acquaintances), and mixed (fiscally regulated or not. i.e., small neighborhood stores, specialty stores, public markets). We calculated the proportion of food and beverage purchases by food outlet for each survey for the overall sample and stratified by education level and urbanicity.
Results:
In 1994, the highest proportion of food purchases was from mixed outlets, represented by specialty and small neighborhood stores (53.7%), and public markets (15.9%), followed by informal outlets (street vendors and street markets) with 12.3%, and formal outlets from which supermarkets accounted for 9.6%. Over time, specialty and small neighborhood stores increased 4.7 percentage points (p.p.), while public markets decreased 7.5 p.p. Street vendors and street markets decreased 1.6 p.p., and increased 0.5 p.p. for supermarkets. Convenience stores contributed 0.5% at baseline and increased to 1.3% by 2020. Purchases at specialty stores mostly increased in higher socioeconomic levels (13.2 p.p.) and metropolitan cities (8.7 p.p.) while public markets decreased the most in rural households and lower socioeconomic levels (6.0 p.p. & 5.3 p.p.). Supermarkets and chain convenience stores increased the most in rural localities and small cities.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, we observed an increase in food purchases from the formal sector, nonetheless, the mixed sector remains the predominant food source in Mexico, especially small-neighborhood stores. This is concerning, since these outlets are mostly supplied by food industries. Further, the decrease in purchases from public markets could imply a reduction in the consumption of fresh produce. In order to develop retail food environment policies in Mexico, the historical and predominant role of the mixed sector in food purchases needs to be acknowledged.
... En este sentido, podemos ver la movilidad cotidiana como un factor importante que incide en la práctica de comer fuera de casa. Salir a comer puede ser un motivo de salida, categorizado generalmente como "ocio" en las encuestas sobre origen-destino en muchos países (Haley, 2011;Warde et al., 2020), y así también puede ser algo que se hace durante el viaje, en movimiento o como una parada breve (Hayden, 2021). En este sentido, los patrones de desarrollo de espacios de consumo de alimentos en las ciudades están vinculados con las necesidades de los consumidores ambulantes (ver "Informalidad urbana") y sus modos de moverse, sean en automóvil o en transporte público (Jakle y Sculle, 1999). ...
la entrada “Transporte criollo” analiza el modo en que las tecnologías de transporte circulan globalmente y se consumen localmente. El término permite plantear muchos de los artefactos utilizados en América Latina cuyo invento y producción provienen de los países más desarrollados tecnológicamente, y el modo en que son adaptados.
... En este sentido, podemos ver la movilidad cotidiana como un factor importante que incide en la práctica de comer fuera de casa. Salir a comer puede ser un motivo de salida, categorizado generalmente como "ocio" en las encuestas sobre origen-destino en muchos países (Haley, 2011;Warde et al., 2020), y así también puede ser algo que se hace durante el viaje, en movimiento o como una parada breve (Hayden, 2021). En este sentido, los patrones de desarrollo de espacios de consumo de alimentos en las ciudades están vinculados con las necesidades de los consumidores ambulantes (ver "Informalidad urbana") y sus modos de moverse, sean en automóvil o en transporte público (Jakle y Sculle, 1999). ...
Movilidades animales, animales moviles, una perspectiva entre la geografía animal , la movilidad y la biogeografía. En el libro nuevos términos clave para los estudios de movilidad en América Latina
... Consumers recognised that the main form of preparation with WEM is in 'Antojitos mexicanos' also known as Mexican fast food (Espinoza-Ortega, 2021). 'Antojitos Mexicanos' are important to the diets of working-class urban consumers as they are available on the streets (Hayden, 2021), but are also consumed in homes and prestigious restaurants (De'Angeli and De 'Angeli, 1988;Rojas-Rivas et al., 2020). ...
... Foodscape ile ilgili literatürde, gıda ortamlarının nasıl sınıflandırıldığını ve ırksallaştırıldığını (Cairns et al., 2013), cinsiyetçilik ve güç eşitsizlikleri (Yasmeen, 2007;Mikkelsen, 2011;Potter & Westall, 2013;Miewald & McCann, 2014), dışarıda yemek yeme (Mikkelsen, 2011), sürdürülebilir gıda (Edwards & Mercer, 2010;Morgan & Sonnino, 2010;Psarikidou & Szerszynski, 2012), çocukların vücutlarının performansı ve yemek yeme (Brembeck & Johansson, 2010;Brembeck et al., 2013), etik gıda üretimi ve tüketimi (Morgan, 2010;Sage, 2010), obezojenik foodscapes (Guthman, 2011;Colls & Evans, 2013), sokak yemekleri foodscapesi (Hayden, 2021), kentsel foodscapes (Hanna & Wallace, 2021), yemek turizmi ve destinasyon foodscapesi (Park & Widyanta, 2022), çocuk ve ergenlik dönemindeki gençlerin bulunduğu gençlik merkezlerinde foodscapes kavramı (Kauppinen et al., 2021) gibi birçok çalışma bulunmaktadır. Literatür incelendiğinde foodscape kavramı ile ilgili birçok çalışmanın yapıldığı ve bu çalışmaların ise her birinin farklı bir konu başlığı altında olduğu görülmektedir. ...
Foodscape kavramı, yemek kültürlerinin temelini oluşturan ve yaratan maddi gerçekler ile
birlikte yemeklerin kültürel alanlarını ve uygulamalarını anlamanın önemli bir yoludur.
Foodscape kavramının yemeğin mekânsal bağlamını ve yemek ile insanlar arasındaki ilişkiyi
vurgulayan düşünce biçimini yansıttığı kabul edilmektedir. Foodscape, gıda coğrafyası
içerisinde yer alan bir kavramdır. Bu nedenle bu çalışmada gıda coğrafyası ve foodscape
kavramları hakkında var olan tanımları ortaya koymak ve foodscape kavramı ile ilgili genel
yapıyı değerlendirme yapmak amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmada, foodscape terimi kullanılarak
sistematik bir literatür incelemesi yapılmıştır. Araştırma kapsamına, 2009-2022 yılları arasında
foodscape terimi ile ilgili yayınlanan çalışmalar dâhil edilmiştir. Literatürde foodscape kavramı
ile ilgili birçok çalışmanın bulunduğu ancak bu çalışmaların her birinin farklı bir odak noktasına
değindiği görülmektedir. Nispeten yeni ve dikkat çekici bir konu olan foodscape, planlama,
pazarlama ve yönetimsel açıdan hem turizm hem de gastronomi ve mutfak sanatları alanında
açılım yaratabilecek bir konuma sahip olabilir. Gelecekte Türkiye’de de foodscape kavramı
içerisinde bulunan sokak yemekleri foodscapesi ile birlikte gastronomi turizmi ve destinasyon
foodscapesleri ile ilgili çalışmaların yapılması, Türkiye’nin gastronomi turizmi potansiyeline
katkıda bulunabilir.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Gastronomi ve mutfak sanatları, gıda coğrafyası, foodscape.
En la última década, después de casi medio siglo de abandono, los mercados públicos entran nuevamente en la agenda pública y en los estudios urbanos. Basado en un acercamiento etnográfico, este texto propone dos aportes principales a estas nuevas investigaciones: 1) dar cuenta del perfil y heterogeneidad de experiencias de los comerciantes que trabajan en tres mercados públicos de la Ciudad de México; 2) a partir de lo anterior, sugerir algunas líneas de reflexión sobre las desigualdades de las condiciones sociolaborales que se reproducen en el interior de los mercados públicos. Con base en ello, proponemos que, si se tiene un mejor conocimiento de las condiciones laborales y de vida de los comerciantes en los mercados públicos, se puede contribuir al desarrollo de políticas públicas más inclusivas, eficientes y democráticas.
Certification schemes and alternative food networks have often been studied separately or using different analytical concepts. Ethnographic research in Sichuan Province, China shows how a cooperative used both labels and people to inform consumers about the ecological quality and trustworthiness of its food, thereby obtaining price premiums. Using information infrastructure as the common analytical vocabulary for exploring both certification and performances of face-to-face relations unearths unexpected commonalities amidst presumed otherness. The infrastructure lens draws attention to the importance of scientific planning and materiality: the force of specific features of different crops and modes of production. Information infrastructures – whether labels or people – depend on, and affect, the materiality of whatever they are supposed to be informing about. They do not simply convey information, but shape value as they interact with and intervene in what is produced.
College students at the City University of New York are highly mobile as they traverse the city from home to school to work and back again. Their mobility has implications for food security. This paper traces the daily food journeys of students at risk of food insecurity at the City University of New York to understand why so many of them are regularly skipping meals on campus. Their everyday food journeys highlight the limitations and insufficiencies of both public programs and campus-based efforts designed to address food security. Students’ attempts and failures to procure a decent meal for themselves expose the sedentary bias embedded within food assistance programs like SNAP and the politics of profit-making, charity, and insufficiency at work in campus food environments. Looking at college student food insecurity through the lens of urban mobility demonstrates the need to enact a “politics of adequacy” on campus and raises new questions about the impact of the sedentary bias embedded in policies and programs designed to address food insecurity in the U.S. more broadly.
The existing literature on street vendors has largely examined processes of marginalisation of informal enterprises amid rapid urban development. At the same time, the resistance methods of street vendors against the constraints of urban development have been extensively explored. However, these studies tend to focus on the binary position between informal and formal, as well as on the overt confrontation and conflicts between vendors and the state, which risks simplifying the heterogeneity of interests in the everyday practice of street vending. Delving into the daily work of street vendors in Bandung city, this article explores the everyday practice of traders in order to identify their subtle forms of resistance to removal and to the negative perceptions attached to them. By adopting the analytics of ‘people as infrastructure’ (Simone, 2004) and the idea of ‘building blocks of success’ for small enterprises (Turner, 2003), this article argues that social infrastructure is constituted and practiced through the construction of personal relationships and varied forms of informal economic exchange between vendors and their customers, informal organisers and neighbours, as well as through the adoption of new technology. Social infrastructures have become a means of building everyday politics for street vendors and a vital way of challenging the negative perception attached to street vending activities.
In recent years, street food in Mexico City has become nationally and globally renowned and celebrated for its flavor and authenticity. Yet the vendors, known as ambulantes, who sell street food, remain marginalized, criminalized, and stigmatized as members of the informal economy. Drawing on historiography and ethnographic data, this chapter investigates the strategies that ambulantes have developed in order to allow them to persist in spite of their precarious position-alternately ignored, celebrated, repressed, and surveilled by the multi-layered state and their fellow denizens. These strategies, including unionizing, the appropriation of bureaucratic discourse, evading police, and narrating solidarity with customers, have enabled ambulantes to survive, but only by negotiating with and accommodating the very dominant narratives and bureaucratic practices that deprive informal vendors of legal legitimacy and social acceptability.
In Mexico City, over 500,000 people are estimated to earn a living working as street vendors. In recent years Mexican street commerce has been increasingly criminalized in the context of "revanchist" neoliberal urban politics which have aimed to "reclaim" and gentrify urban spaces, mirroring a global trend (Leal Martinez 2016, Swanson 2007, Janoschka et al. 2013). Yet the law structures the social lives of street vendors not only in its repressive, revanchist capacity, but through more subtle and quotidian forms of legal disregulation (Goldstein 2015). My goal in this paper, accordingly, is to make sense of the role of legality in shaping the forms of symbolic and affective labor in which street vendors engage beyond those areas which are explicitly targeted by neoliberal urban development schemes. To that end, I propose a framework of "ambiguous legalities" as a way to understand the relationship between law and the everyday production of street vending. Paying attention to ambiguous legalities means looking at the ways not only that legal uncertainties are created and maintained, but on the way in which they influence forms of everyday comportment and the invisible labor of symbolic boundary-work (Lamont 1992). Drawing on extensive fieldwork in Mexico City's central wholesale market, I illustrate the ways in which ambiguous legality is produced through the legal technology of the vending permit, and describe how street vendors and other social actors attempt to make moral-legal claims through a process I refer to as "disambiguation." Finally, I discuss how popular discourses about state illegitimacy and corruption contribute to legal ambiguities, and the challenges that they pose to street vendors in their efforts to combat popular perceptions of criminality and illegality.
As death rates from heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes in Latin America escalate, global health interventions increasingly emphasize healthy eating, exercise, and weight loss. This book explores how scientific descriptions of body weight are translated from policy boardrooms, clinics, and classrooms into everyday life. It is one of few attempts to ethnographically study the emergence of obesity as a social fact—describing what obesity means for people who have been diagnosed as obese and how they respond to protocols of treatment. Whereas scientific and epidemiological projects have analyzed global obesity using population-level statistics, this book takes an anthropological approach, studying how obesity is lived and experienced by those who have recently found their diets—and their weight—radically transformed. The stories included illustrate how the circulation of information about obesity in Guatemala’s postwar, postcolonial landscape is changing how people know their bodies and organize their lives. The book demonstrates that dieting techniques routinely seek to configure the body as a bounded object to possess and control. Though the evaluation of health through weight could have powerful and dangerous effects, the book also illustrates the how people worked around and refigured standards and measures. The book makes clear that the joys of eating and non-metric forms of health remained valuable in people’s lives.