Boon or bane? Urban food security and online food purchasing during the Covid-19 epidemic in Nanjing, China
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Date
2022Author
Liang, Yajia
Zhong, Taiyang
Crush, Jonathan
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Show full item recordAbstract
This paper examines the relationship between the rapid growth of online food purchasing
and household food security during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in China using the
city of Nanjing as a case study. The paper presents the results of an online survey of 968 households
in Nanjing in March 2020 focused on their food purchasing behavior and levels of food security
during the early weeks of the pandemic. While online food purchasing has increased rapidly in many
countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, little research attention has been paid to the relationship
between online food purchasing and household food security. This paper provides detailed insights
into this relationship in China. The medium- and longer-term food security and other consequences
of the pandemic pivot to online food purchasing are a fertile area for future research in China
and elsewhere.