Food culture is often understood as the practices, beliefs, and traditions surrounding food and eating within a particular society or community. It encompasses various aspects of traditional dishes and recipes, culinary techniques and cooking methods, mealtime rituals, social aspects, and symbolism. Food culture in a critical factor shaping food choices by influencing eating and dietary norms and habitual behaviours. Given this, it is essential to clearly define the dimensions of food culture (particular to a country or region) if one is to seek to leverage its profound impact on individuals and communities. This working paper thus explores the multidimensional nature of food culture in India, emphasising its deep-rooted connections to cultural identity, social bonding, and wellbeing.
Dairy products are rich in many nutrients essential for healthy growth and development, and they are often more affordable than other animal-source foods. Ethiopia has a very large stock of dairy animals, and milk and other dairy products are popular in the local food culture. Yet the per capita consumption of dairy is surprisingly low, reflecting numerous challenges in production, distribution, and household behaviours. This Working Paper reviews the experience of GAIN Ethiopia tackling some of these challenges in the dairy value chain.
Milk is a commonly consumed food in Low- and Lower-Middle Income Countries (LLMICS). It contains many important nutrients and generally appears, together with its derived products, in national dietary guidelines. But objections have been raised to its promotion on several grounds: health, environmental, animal welfare, and affordability. This Discussion Paper reviews commonly presented arguments in favour of and against consumption of dairy, taking into account the specific contexts of LLMICs.
While there is a growing recognition of the importance of youth engagement in food system decision-making and governance, existing research remains largely theoretical or anecdotal, with a scarcity of empirical studies providing robust data on the engagement and meaningful participation of young people in food systems. A first step towards providing such data is having strong, validated metrics and data-collection methods that can be applied comparably across contexts. This scoping review thus synthesises evidence on metrics and methods used to assess youth engagement in policy processes, with a specific focus on food system-related policies.
Food systems, important for food security, nutrition, prosperity, and environmental well-being, are integral to all 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Traditional food markets are strategic entry points for food systems transformation, since a diversity of stakeholders (including local producers, vendors, consumers, and government), interact routinely in these spaces. These markets connect millions of stakeholders within and across local food systems and levels of government mandates. As food-insecure regions like sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) rapidly urbanise, most urban, low-income, vulnerable communities are reliant on food purchased from markets. As such, markets are key spaces to guide vendor practices, influence consumer food choices, and strengthen inclusive governance. Despite their critical value, markets’ ‘hard’ (structures and equipment) and ‘soft’ (capacities and resources) infrastructure are significantly under-supported. Investment efforts have been challenged by a lack of understanding of how markets are embedded in the wider food system and markets’ wholesale and retail dynamics, inadequate financial models, insufficient public budgets and capacity, and limited empowerment of key stakeholders.
This paper introduces and illustrates GAIN’s Inclusive Food Systems Governance Model and supporting tools. The model is designed to strengthen investment and empower voices, alongside increased efforts to ensure sustainability and resilience in traditional food markets. It has been shown to support effective market infrastructure investments, to foster local agency and inclusive and equitable food systems transformation, and to be adaptable across different contexts. The case of Marikiti Market, Machakos County (Kenya) shows the model in action, including details of specific investment components and costs. As infrastructure investments are limited, the importance of making a sound business investment case for public and private (and philanthropic) partnerships and banks to invest in traditional markets is critical.
Many low-income, food insecure, and malnutrition-vulnerable communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America rely on traditional markets to access nutritious fresh food. However, contaminated fresh foods in markets put the well-being of consumers at risk by compromising their uptake of nutrients, needed for proper growth and health. Unsafe food also contributes to food waste and can raise food prices and lower market vendors’ profits. Improving hygiene in traditional food markets is thus vital to improving nutritional outcomes for consumers in low- and middle-income countries and can positively contribute to market vendors’ livelihoods and sustainable local food systems. In 2022, GAIN initiated a process to champion global Guidelines for Food Hygiene Controls in Traditional Markets for Food through the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC), where GAIN is an observer organisation Those Guidelines were adopted in November 2024.
The public sector plays a crucial role in transforming food systems through leadership, structures, and processes like policies and budgets as well as the extent to which it enables a whole-of-society approach. Understanding public-sector governance is thus fundamental to designing and implementing food systems transformation initiatives. This working paper provides an overview of public sector governance at the country level, with a food systems lens.
Public governance models vary across countries, and understanding these is vital for addressing challenges and trade-offs and leveraging opportunities in food systems. Local governments, including city governments, have close relationships to the daily lives of residents and landscapes. This makes them key players in bringing together multiple stakeholders, implementing locally relevant solutions, and strengthening capacity through sharing best practices, tools, and lessons learned via city-to-city networks. In a similar way, global food systems-related fora can provide opportunities for national, sub-national, and local governments to enhance the evidence base on food systems transformation and shape wider food systems outlooks.
Reducing food waste represents an important opportunity for shrinking the environmental footprint of food systems and supporting planetary health – and if this waste can be repurposed into nutritious foods, then it could also be a benefit for nutrition and human health. To understand the opportunities for repurposing waste products or byproducts into foods, this paper presents a rapid analysis based on desk research and key informant interviews. The analysis considers byproducts across four categories: fruit and vegetable residues, seeds and seed residues, other plant byproducts, and animal byproducts. The assessment considered availability, potential uses, consumer acceptability, food safety, nutritional quality, and feasibility.
Workforce Nutrition Programmes (WNPs) can improve the health of workers, but with
mixed results for a business case—which is crucial to their sustainability. This paper thus
explores impact pathways and metrics used to assess the business benefits of WNPs, as
well as the factors that influence the business case, with the aim of informing future
interventions and research.
Micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of economic development in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Their role is particularly important since they are estimated to make up the vast majority of food system businesses and play a critical role in achieving food security and supporting nutrition, as well as providing employment. To function optimally, business-support programmes and interventions are often developed based on the assumption that institutional constraints impede MSMEs from maximising their potential. Support services can be broadly grouped into financial assistance (e.g., grants, loans) and technical assistance (e.g., business development services, training, networking).
