Incomplete documentation, social isolation, and culinary estrangement: Factors affecting food security among urban migrant populations in Mexico.

This paper describes some of the factors that contribute to food insecurity among the growing populations of migrants who reside in Mexico City. It contributes to a growing body of literature that focuses on the relationship between migration and food security by qualitatively analyzing the specific challenges faced by migrants who are (semi)permanently settled in an urban area (rather than border region). The main argument of this paper is that although many of the challenges faced by migrants in terms of food insecurity are parallel to those faced by low-income citizens and internal migrants in Mexico City, migrants face unique challenges that contribute to their increased vulnerability. These challenges have political/bureaucratic, social, and economic dimensions. The paper argues that incomplete documentation, culinary estrangement and social isolation pose specific challenges to migrants that compound their difficulty in achieving individual and household food security. • Mexico City is increasingly becoming a place of settlement for migrants from different countries. • International migrants in Mexico City face particular challenges in terms of food security which are social, cultural, and political in nature. • Migrants experience culinary estrangement , whereby local ingredients, food sources, recipes and establishments are unfamiliar, increasingly vulnerability to food insecurity. • Migrants face social isolation due to a lack of established social, kin, or other networks, which increases vulnerability to food insecurity. • Migrants experience incomplete documentation, whereby they lack personal records or documents, which limit access to housing and employment and increase their vulnerability to food insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]