On 15 November, the French Red Cross Voluntary Activities Departement (DABE) organized its annual day on food aid at the French Red Cross Campus in Montrouge (92). Entitled “New perspectives on food aid”, this day was organized around a morning of round-table discussion and an presentation afternoon of inspiring schemes of the Red Cross network or new food aid actors.

This presentation brought together around a hundred people, mostly volunteers from the French Red Cross network and members of other organisations involved in food aid (Fédération des Banques Alimentaires, Secours Populaire, Restos du cœur, anti-waste organisations).

Is food aid adapted to current needs?

During the first round table on the theme “Adapting food aid to current needs”, researcher Estelle Fourat, whose research is supported by the Foundation in partnership with the Voluntary Activities Departement of the French Red Cross (DABE), presented the results of her postdoctoral research. The main objective of Estelle’s research was to obtain a better knowledge of migrants’ food practices and experiences as well as their perceptions of food aid.

From a logic of survival to a logic of food reception

Discussions with panelists and the audience focused on the paradigm shift advocated by Estelle: from a “survival logic” to a “food reception logic“. This paradigm shift implies, among other things, that individual beneficiaries can choose among several foods and cook according to their material capacities. The research findings have been transmitted to DABE and the entire Red Cross network, which is currently working to implement these recommendations to improve food aid to the migrant population.

Estelle’s research will be the subject of two publications: a scientific article and a synthesis of the article, which will be published soon on our website.