PhD defence: Provisioning healthy and diverse foods to the urban poor in Nigeria: a practice-based perspective on informal ready-to-eat food vending

PhD candidate: KP (Kehinde) Adeosun. Promotor: prof.dr.ir. PJM (Peter) Oosterveer. Co-promotor: dr. MF (Mary) Greene. Access to food is of central relevance for food security, health, and sustainability of people around the world. In recent years, many developing urban centers in Africa and throughout the Global South have witnessed a shift in how the urban poor access their food from household-based to increasingly out-of-home food consumption. The lives of these poor urban dwellers have undergone significant transformations as a result of urban development and changing infrastructure. These developments have spurred the expansion of informal ready-to-eat food vending. In several decades, street foods have become an important, informal, part of the urban food supply system. However, there are many concerns about the safety and diversity of food purchased from these food outlets. This thesis therefore explores the social dynamics characterizing informal ready-to-eat food vending and consuming with a focus on health and diversity to look for ways to address the current challenges.

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