Racism and the food system
From asylum hotels to overfishing in Senegal
Written by Monish Bhatia and Roxana Cavalcanti. Photo by Phoebe Davies.
CW: This article also includes examples of sexual violence experienced by women living in poverty. Some readers might find this distressing
The serving of rotten food to people seeking asylum living in London’s refugee accommodation now appears to be endemic. But, Monish Bhatia and Roxana Cavalcanti argue, this is no aberration or accident. It needs to be viewed within today’s global food system in which hunger, malnutrition, and food-related deaths are deeply political and strategic.
UK asylum hotels and food
Over the past decade and half, we have been part of migrant solidarity groups (formal and informal), as well as researchers on social inequalities, race and justice. Since the beginning of 2023, we have worked on a new project with migrant women from the Global South living in the UK, uncovering the complex impacts of the ever-hostile immigration regime against the backdrop of the expanding asylum-industrial complex…