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Daily WellnessJul 30, 2025
How Nutrition Connects Women: Nourishing Our Bodies & Communities
Usually, when we think about “good nutrition”, we focus on the best way to feed our own bodies. But it’s important to remember that our ability to feed ourselves as individuals often relies on the community around us.
In this article from Sarah Hasler (an Herbalist, Registered Dietitian, and Herb Pharm’s Director of Botanical Affairs) learn how our community impacts what is available to us, what we choose to eat, and how we eat it. “Community nutrition” is as important for our well-being as our own individual choices, and it’s often overlooked in discussions about healthy eating.
Honoring Our Ancestors
It is equally important to recognize that in the past, in many communities, women have historically been the ones charged with the daily labor of preparing food not only for themselves but also for their families. We should also acknowledge that while food preparation today should not be gendered labor, in many traditions, women have been the primary actors when preparing food for their families and communities.
For some, the common trope of Mother or Grandmother cooking for their family signifies warmth, home, and love. For others, it is a reminder of generations of unpaid and unsung labor. We can honor the service of our ancestors without carrying outdated expectations of a “woman’s work” into our own lives, and also acknowledge that today plenty of uncles, fathers, grandpas, and others cook up a storm!
Changing Food Systems
Still, it’s just as important to recognize that the changes that have altered expectations for womens’ roles have also occurred alongside major shifts to what, and how, we eat. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, and later, the Green Revolution, our food systems (including how we eat as communities) have changed enormously.
Changing food systems altered our connection to the community around us. In some ways, new food systems opened us to choices that were out of reach in the past (think Avocados in Ontario or Strawberries in December!) However, these changes also loosened ties to community previously engendered by season and availability. Fewer of us have gardens, fewer of us are directly involved in seasonal harvest activities, and produce may come from thousands of miles away rather than from the surrounding landscape.
Changing food systems altered our connection to the community around us.
The Ups & Downs of Convenience
The convenience and choice provided by our local supermarkets should be celebrated for its very real role in reducing malnutrition and nutrient deficiencies for millions of people—the availability of ample amounts of varied foods has had a positive overall impact, regardless of the drawbacks of processed foods or fewer celebrations around seasonal harvests. Still, the community connections we previously enjoyed simply because so much of our time was spent on planting, growing, harvesting, and processing the food we ate have largely disappeared for many of us.
How we eat has changed just as much as what we eat. We are more likely to be working out of our homes and less likely to live in multigenerational homes where at least one adult is “at home” cooking. Even if we are cooking at home, we often have less time to do so, and we’re less likely to have learned skills that were previously commonplace, like bread-making or preserving foods by canning, salting, or fermentation.1–5
Community in the Kitchen
Even the simple act of eating alone on a regular basis may have a negative effect on us—studies on loneliness have found that those that are alone are more likely to skip dinner and have poor-quality diets than individuals that regularly eat in a social setting.6,7
As a result of these changes—both positive and negative—we can recognize that there is a need to renew community ties without relying on outdated ideas regarding who should be cooking. Research also shows that eating together is associated with less loneliness and better nutrition.6–9
Therefore, it’s worth exploring other ways to create community around food—nourishing ourselves in more ways than one. We all belong in the kitchen—that’s where the food is!
Renewing Our Communities
We recognize that it’s easier said than done to renew these community connections, so let’s explore a few ways that we can work to renew our connection to our larger communities:
-
Create “dinner swaps” with friends and neighbors. Once a week, or once a month, everyone
prepares
extra portions of an easily shared meal like a hearty soup, chili, or stew, then gathers to share
with others. Or, consider a “prep party” where everyone meets to prepare freezer meals that can be
taken home and enjoyed later.
- Tip: Rather than using disposable plastic containers, consider asking everyone to invest in identical freezerproof glass containers. That way, there’s no need to return a container as everyone has the same thing!
- Invite isolated neighbors, especially elderly neighbors. Individuals eating alone, especially the elderly, are more likely to skip dinner and less likely to have a healthy diet.6,8 If there is someone in your life that lives alone, consider inviting them over for a shared meal.
- Consider community gardens. If you do not have the space or time to become a full-fledged gardener, consider seeing if there is a community garden serving a food pantry or other organization that needs volunteers. Community gardens can be an outstanding way of providing fresh produce to individuals that might otherwise not have access as well as a great way of meeting people and developing new gardening skills. The American Community Gardening Association offers a “Find A Garden” map.10
- Share the bounty. If you are fortunate enough to have a garden, consider growing a few extra vegetables that can be shared with friends, neighbors, or even local food pantries. Organizations like Ample Harvest make this very easy.
-
Incorporate food into family learning. If you have children in your life, consider making
your next activity food-related, as children involved in food preparation are more likely to try and
enjoy vegetables.11 Consider exploring foods of different cultures. Allow your child to
choose a food to learn to prepare, or perhaps visit a restaurant serving food from that culture. Or,
when grocery shopping, encourage your child to choose one new fruit or vegetable that they have
never tried before, and learn the best way to prepare and eat this new food.
- Reminder: Exploration is more fun without judgment, and new foods can often be challenging for children, so if a new food isn’t enjoyable at first, be neutral if their response isn’t immediately positive! Often, new flavors need to be approached several times before being accepted.
- Ask others to teach you. Nothing builds community like sharing knowledge. Do you have a family member that makes amazing bread? Do you want to know how to grow Tomatoes as well as your neighbor? Want to know how your cousin’s homemade Persimmon jam always turns out so beautifully? Ask them! Offer to bring supplies, help with preparation and cleanup, and see if they’re willing to let you in on their secrets.
Get Together, Eat Well
Building community can be hard, and examining the ways we may have let go of important foodways can be challenging and a little overwhelming. But by choosing new ways to emphasize nutrition as we build community, we can address two important concerns with one very important action—spending time with our family, friends, and neighbors.
References
- [1] Alpaugh M, Pope L, Trubek A, Skelly J, Harvey J. Cooking as a Health Behavior: Examining the Role of Cooking Classes in a Weight Loss Intervention. Nutrients. 2020;12(12):3669. doi:10.3390/nu12123669
- [2] Erlich R, Yngve A, Wahlqvist ML. Cooking as a healthy behavior. Public Health Nutr. 2012;15(7):1139-1140. doi:10.1017/S1368980012002662
- [3] Gaston ME. How do they feel about cooking? The status of cooking and food skills among young adults. Published online 2022. Accessed December 23, 2024. https://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/16913
- [4] Lavelle F, Benson T, Hollywood L, et al. Modern Transference of Domestic Cooking Skills. Nutrients. 2019;11(4):870. doi:10.3390/nu11040870
- [5] Mengi Çelik Ö, Aytekin Şahin G, Gürel S. Do cooking and food preparation skills affect healthy eating in college students? Food Sci Nutr. 2023;11(10):5898-5907. doi:10.1002/fsn3.3591
- [6] Allen-Perkins D, Rivero Jiménez B, López-Lago Ortiz L, Conde Caballero D, Mariano Juárez L. The Impact of Loneliness and Social Isolation on Dietary Choices and Practices among Older Adults: A Systematic Review of Qualitative and Mixed-Methods Research. J Popul Ageing. Published online December 16, 2024. doi:10.1007/s12062-024-09475-4
- [7] Hanna K, Cross J, Nicholls A, Gallegos D. The association between loneliness or social isolation and food and eating behaviors: A scoping review. Appetite. 2023;191:107051. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2023.107051
- [8] Hansen KV. Loneliness among Elderly People: Can Food and Meals Change this Situation? J Popul Ageing. 2022;15(2):413-423. doi:10.1007/s12062-020-09298-z
- [9] Solway E, Singer D, Malani P, et al. How Loneliness, Depressed Mood, and Diet Affect Eating Habits and Grocery Shopping. Innov Aging. 2020;4(Suppl 1):24-25. doi:10.1093/geroni/igaa057.079
- [10] Find a garden. ACGA. Accessed December 23, 2024. https://www.communitygarden.org/garden
- [11] Van der Horst K, Ferrage A, Rytz A. Involving children in meal preparation. Effects on food intake. Appetite. 2014;79:18-24. doi:10.1016/j.appet.2014.03.030