Dietary Transformations and Health Implications Among Migrant Populations

The phenomenon of migration presents unique shifts in dietary habits as individuals and communities acclimate to new environments. Migrants often encounter changes in the available food choices and the social settings that shape eating habits, which significantly influence their health and nutritional status. Recent studies have illustrated that dietary adjustments among migrants are influenced by a myriad of factors, including accessibility of food in new locales, economic constraints, sociopolitical marginalization, and threats to cultural identity. However, the complexity of these changes is not yet fully understood, with varying trajectories determined by prior social positions and the adaptation processes in post-migration contexts.

For many of those who are migrating, barriers to food access or availability may compound with food-related experiences of displacement. Food insecurity, as it spans migration trajectories, warrants further critical attention, particularly regarding its implications for diet and health status.

This research topic aims to deepen the understanding of how food environments shape migration trajectories, and in turn, how migration impacts food practices and health outcomes. It seeks to investigate the interplay between the political, economic, social, and environmental dimensions of food practices and dietary transformations in contexts of displacement and migration. Furthermore, it advocates for a rethinking of how scholars, practitioners, and policymakers frame and intervene in the food and health practices of migrant populations. The topic accomplishes these aims by prioritizing research that presents critical perspectives, integrates multiple forms of evidence, utilizes ethnographic or qualitative research methods, highlights experiences of South-South and South-North migration, and engages with literature from critical race and diaspora studies, feminist scholars, decolonial scholars, and scholars in the global South.

We welcome articles addressing, but not limited to, the following themes:
• The role of food-related displacement in migration experiences
• The role of economic and social factors in shaping the food and health trajectories of migrants.
• Comparative studies on transformations to food practices and dietary habits across migration trajectories.
• Health outcomes resulting from dietary changes in migrant populations.
• Intergenerational dietary shifts within migrant households and families.
• Policy implications for improving health and nutrition among migrants.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Case Report
• Clinical Trial
• Community Case Study
• Conceptual Analysis
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: migration, Dietary Habits, Health Outcomes, Cultural Identity, Social Determinants, Economic Factors, Food Environment, Intergenerational Shifts, Mobility, Food Practices

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.