By Patricia Foxen, Associate Director of Research, NCLR
Michael Pollan, the popular author and knower of all things nutritious, has famously said: “... the way we eat represents our most profound engagement with the natural world. Daily, our eating turns nature into culture, transforming the body of the world into our bodies and minds.” Mr. Pollan’s wisdom came immediately to mind as I listened to the stories shared with us by Latino families around the country as part of NCLR’s efforts to document the nutritional challenges faced by Hispanic communities.
While we heard about the many barriers Latino parents and grandparents confront in feeding their families, and the resourceful steps they take to cope with these challenges, we also heard another resounding and inspirational theme: Latinos tend to make a profound connection between eating well—“comer bien”—and the fundamental well-being and success of their family and community. As we listened to Latinos of all generations and ages, it became clear that the notion of “comer bien” is rooted not only in future aspirations for their families, but also in a sense of tradition and community, where how one eats is as important as what one eats.
So what, exactly, did our participants mean when they spoke of the value “comer bien?” At the very core, eating well is about ensuring that the food one prepares will allow one’s family to be healthy in body, mind, and spirit. Feeding family members nutritious food, and making sure they have enough of it, enables adults to have the energy required for (often physically strenuous) work, and assures that children can concentrate and learn properly at school. For many Latinos, “comer bien” is associated in a tangible way with the strong desire to make a better life, enable one’s children to succeed, and contribute to one’s community. As one participant said about her family:
“I want them to have a better life…most Hispanics never had many opportunities. I want them to have them, to take advantage of them…Health is everything, because without health, well, they don’t go to school, they don’t go to work, and all the things that have to get done are not done…without good nutrition, there is no health.”
“Comer bien” also has strong emotional and cultural connotations. Listening to people’s stories, we heard that eating well is about sharing bonds of love, affection, and support with one’s family, including those from the extended family. Some adults—immigrants in particular—told us about their emotional attachment to traditional food: the preparation and sharing of meals (including traditional foods) is part of a ritual and identity that is crucial to their family’s well-being and continuity. Knowing that their children are well-fed and content is essential to that identity. However, many also stressed the desire to have their children avoid the health problems that they observe around them—or that they themselves have struggled with—such as obesity and diabetes. Balancing tradition and health—adapting cultural “ways of eating” from the home country to lifestyles in the U.S.—is thus another essential element of “comer bien”.
José, Marina, and Diego in Washington, DC are one of several families who helped us understand that nutrition for Latino families is about far more than the consumption of food. I had a chance to talk with Marina and José, grandparents and guardians of eight-year-old Diego (Diego’s parents have fallen upon hard times). As we hear in this vignette, Marina and José’s efforts to provide Diego with a wholesome diet reveal a deep desire to see their grandson grow up healthy and happy. Moreover, one of José and Marina’s primary goals in their older age is to show Diego the value of staying healthy and eating well through example: while teaching their grandson about the connections between food and well-being, they simultaneously teach him about the essential values of love, family, and accountability.
“Comer bien,” in Mr. Pollan’s terms, is about transforming nature into culture in the most positive sense. As we seek to understand the struggles and barriers encountered by Latino families in feeding their children, it is important to keep in mind the resiliency and strength that they display in their food habits. Preserving and strengthening the values associated with “comer bien”—and, while we’re at it, learning from grandparents like José and Marina—should be at the core of policies and programs designed to help all families feed their children.