Dialogue on Nutrition at Food Pantries: Holy Cross Summer Research 2019

[0:00]I have always been interested in health and nutrition. I think it's almost a privilege that you get in sites like Holy Cross Dining Hall where you can walk in and make yourself a salad. And then last summer I had the opportunity to be an intern at AIDS Project Worcester was able to see their food pantry and see how it was run. This summer, I'm researching how nutrition is talked about in food pantries. As an anthropology major, I do a lot of participant observation of just almost watching conversations, but almost see this absence of a conversation happening with the nutritionist that's been going there every Tuesday once a month. And it kind of intrigued me, like how can we change this so that these stereotypes don't keep arising that if you are food insecure, you are more likely to be obese. If you're food insecure, you're more likely to have heart disease. How can we change this almost scary topic? The nutritionist comes in, but clients are scared to talk to her. They're like, no, I don't wanna change my diet. So how can it become less of a, you need to change your diet and more into a this is something that can help you down the line?