A different perspective on food and well-being in migrant-founded communities: seeing a Oaxacalifornia food system

Our food system is harming individual, public and planetary health, and scientists and practitioners have called for a "Great food transformation…to normalize healthy diets from sustainable food systems." One reason this transformation is needed is due to a series of health-impacting transitions in diet and health resulting from lifestyle and food changes. Migrants encountering a new food environment and the subsequent dietary, nutritional, and epidemiological transitions are at increased risk of acquiring noncommunicable diseases. The challenges to health and well-being in migrant-founded communities are real; however, we consider how a different perspective could offer alternative pathways for achieving food transformation and strengthening well-being. These communities are typically depicted as experiencing a dietary transition due to being passive, limited-resource, limited-ability consumers in a novel, health-compromising food environment. But some migrant-founded communities selectively resist such transitions including through culture and identity expressed in traditional foods. We argue for this contrasting perspective regarding traditional maize-based cuisine in Oaxacalifornia, specifically the Oaxacan heritage community in Los Angeles, California. We outline some of the implications of this perspective for community well-being, research and practice.