Association between households' food provisioning practices and foodscape exposure in daily mobility. A mixed methods study in Montpellier, France
Résumé
While literature invites to consider the effect of food environments on food practices, little is known about the spatial practices of food provisioning. Moreover, food environment studies are often limited to the residential environment even though individuals' food practices are part of their daily routines. The objective of this communication is to discuss a methodological approach for studying relationships between households' food provisioning practices and the foodscape to which they are exposed through their daily mobility. This study was conducted in the Montpellier city-region, France. This mixed methods research is based on 27 semi-structured interviews and the cross-sectional study Mont’Panier (383 households). The argumentation patterns identified in the interviews led us to distinguish 8 household-based food provisioning logics: budgetary, efficient, avoidance, relational, physical accessibility, recreational, product, and committed. These logics do not induce systematically differentiated spatial practices. However, some practices appear to be the most significant in each of these 8 logics of action. Based on these logics and using a principal component analysis followed by a clustering procedure, we identified 3 patterns of spatial food provisioning practices: (i) ‘Few trips and big shopping in hypermarkets’, (ii) ‘Low budget and specific trips’ and (iii) ‘Large budget for diversified purchases’. Patterns were described using multivariable regression models. Patterns (i) and (iii) are associated to households’ level education and their foodscape exposure whereas pattern (ii) is associated to limited daily mobility and living in urban environment. Finally, we discuss the value of mixed-methods when studying daily activities. In particular, we focus on the complementarity of qualitative and quantitative surveys to build a typology of daily practices and the value of qualitative analysis to clarify the limitations of quantitative analysis’ results.