Today’s Maine Sunday Telegram reports on work by the Wayside Food Programs to better understand the food ways of the immigrant communities they help.
Last spring, Wayside held seven focus groups to begin that process. According to Wayside, they included 33 leaders speaking for the area’s Somali, Arab, Central African, Angolan, Asian, Hispanic/Latino and Serb/Croatian/Russian/Albanian people.
The participants shared information about general habits – how many meals they eat per day, for example, and where they shop for food. They also talked about foods typically available at pantries – which ones they would not use and which foods they wished were available.