Food networks and urban informality in Mumbai, India
ISSN: 0007-070X
Article publication date: 6 October 2020
Issue publication date: 20 January 2021
Abstract
Purpose
Traditionally, urban informality has been discussed in terms of housing and markets, usually along the periphery of urban areas where there is disinvestment and decline. This article looks at urban informality through the lens of informal fresh food retail throughout the city of Mumbai, India. In India, fresh produce has traditionally been sold in informal street markets comprising vendors that operate through carts and make-shift stalls set-up on the streets. This article aims to assess the conditions surrounding fresh produce retail that fuel its informality.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a mixed methods approach by spatially analyzing the location of informal fresh food vendors in ArcGIS, developing a qualitative analysis of the level of proliferation of this network through interviews conducted with vendors and conducting surveys of residents' access patterns and purchasing habits for fresh produce in the city.
Findings
Results from this study indicate that the role of density, transportation systems, domestic/household structure, cultural traditions and a bureaucratic system rife with its own challenges have resulted in a distinct infrastructure of food retail networks that has harvested forms of inequalities and injustices that inherently fuel this informal economy.
Originality/value
There is no published study to date that has been done to spatially assess the informal food network in any dense city in India, let alone Mumbai to date. Urban informality, by its nature, is hard to capture, and yet this study takes a holistic view of the food systems in Mumbai, by addressing the location, supply (through vendor interviews) and demand factors (through resident surveys).
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank the students of the Each One Teach One Foundation in Mumbai for their data collection efforts and Hanyu Hong, Hongxue Zhang and Kokil Agarwal, students at Michigan State University for their help in preparing the data for this study.Funding: Special thanks goes out to the Delia Koo Endowment, Asian Studies Center at Michigan State University for support with funding this research.The author declares that she has no conflict of interest.
Citation
Kotval-K, Z. (2021), "Food networks and urban informality in Mumbai, India", British Food Journal, Vol. 123 No. 2, pp. 771-788. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-02-2020-0119
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited