Foodways and the Floating Population: Diet and Rural-to-Urban Migration in Nanjing, China

Abstract

To investigate the maintenance of hometown dietary practices during domestic migration, focus groups were conducted with migrant workers (n = 55) residing in Nanjing, Jiangsu, People's Republic of China without official transfer of their household registration permit, hukou. Mean BMI among migrants was 23.7 ± 3.4 kg/m2, with less than 15% indicating food insecurity. Five major themes were identified: a) dynamics of rural hometown food system, b) nutritional knowledge derived from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and rural experience, but influenced by contemporary media and notions of "low" culture; c) influence of occupation on mealtime and dietary patterns during migration; d) change in purchasing behaviors and food sourcing in the urban environment; and e) rural-to-urban dietary change based primarily on increased consumption of meat.