Researching African-American nutrition

August 30, 2009 6:17 PM

Good resources for researching African-American attitudes towards and perceptions of nutrition?

I'm writing an article and I'm having trouble finding good secondary sources before I start the primary research. Do black people in the US think about food and health in different ways than other parts of the population? What are the differences within the African-American population? Where do these differences come from?

Any suggestions on where to start looking to answer these and related questions would be greatly appreciated. Also, any anecdotal information or personal observations are welcome as well. Thank!

posted by AceRock to health & fitness (4 comments total)

Have you tried a Google search using the terms "African-American nutrition attitudes"?
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 6:48 PM on August 30

An Interview with Bryant Terry on Race, Class, Food, and Culture - Part 1

There's not a lot here, as he speaks more about what various American cultures have in common, rather than the differences. However, it looks like part 2 will be up in a day or two.
posted by zinfandel at 6:49 PM on August 30

A friend of mine does research in technological support of low-income individuals as they reflect on and manage their nutrition. Starting with her bibliographies from the following papers might show some other primary sources.

Andrea Grimes, Martin Bednar, Jay David Bolter, and Rebecca E. Grinter (2008). EatWell: Sharing Nutrition-Related Memories in a Low-Income Community. Proceedings of Computer Supported Collaborative work 2008.

Andrea Grimes and Richard Harper (2008). Celebratory Technology: New Directions for Food Research in HCI. Proc. of ACM Conference on Computer-Human Interaction 2008.
posted by zpousman at 6:54 PM on August 30

Where to start looking depends on what kind of article you're trying to write, and what you have access to. Do you want scholarly articles, and do you have access to them through a university library or some other subscription?
posted by carmen at 8:07 AM on August 31