Navigating Pandemic Hardships: Experiences of Food Insecurity in Racially/Ethnically Diverse Adults in Canada

The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the health, economic and social inequities among adults in food-insecure households. Stigma can exacerbate household food insecurity (HFI) by limiting access to vital resources, including nutritious food. We explored the following among racially/ethnically diverse adults in food-insecure households in Canada: (1) experiences of HFI during COVID-19 and (2) programmatic and policy suggestions to reduce dietary inequities and improve food access during future public health crises. Using purposive sampling, 70 participants from Alberta, Ontario and Québec were recruited. Semi-structured interviews were guided by the Stigma and Food Inequity Conceptual Framework, with data analysed through directed content and narrative analysis. Three themes emerged: (1) strained and uneven paths to food access, (2) surviving food scarcity: disruption coping strategies and their hidden costs and (3) from crisis lessons to equitable policy action to reduce HFI. Experiences of HFI worsened during the pandemic, especially among participants with multiple and intersecting stigmatised identities/positions. Physical and economic barriers to food access during COVID-19 were magnified by systemic inequities operating through stigma. Findings underscore the importance of centring lived experience within a stigma framework to inform equitable policies and programmes, addressing structural drivers of HFI and intersecting stigmas during future public health crises.