Paper short abstract:

Small Island Developing States increasingly address high obesity rates by (re-)localising food production for greater food sovereignty. Two local narratives of global movement of food and health messages illustrate complex experiences of food production and consumption in Fiji and Saint Vincent.

Paper long abstract:

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) increasingly seek alliances to address shared vulnerabilities, which include lacking food sovereignty due to local agriculture historically geared towards food export of fruit and vegetable produce and imports of cheap, nutrient-poor ultra-processed food. SIDS have among the highest rates of obesity, chronic diseases and resulting disability and early death in relatively young populations. Concerted state and civil society efforts to address these health challenges involve (re-)localising food production. We explored current practices of local food production and consumption, and impacts on health and socio-economic wellbeing in Fiji in the South Pacific and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) in the Caribbean. We present two local narratives of global mobilities of food and health messages that illustrate the complex experiences and valuations of food as health promoting or damaging. In Fiji, the focus group discussions reflected confusion and contestations around healthy eating advice provided by practitioners that warned against eating local root crops despite their health value; these erroneous recommendations were likely poor adaptation of international nutritional guidelines. Updated Fijian nutrition guidance explicitly encourages consumption of local root crops and planting backyard gardens, but outdated health advice persists. In SVG, social media discourse around "plastic foods" from China reflected uncertainties around food from new global markets (despite more readily available North and South American produce that outprice local foods). Both examples demonstrate tensions in how global movements of foods and health messaging are made sense of, reinforced and contested in local experiences.