Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T17:58:30.907Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Food Aid – Normalising the Abnormal in Finland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2015

Tiina Silvasti
Tiina Silvasti*
Affiliation:
Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyvaskyla E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In Finland, food banks and bread lines emerged for the first time during the deep recession in the mid-1990s and, since then, have become permanent. This was partly an outcome of cutting or freezing social security costs during the economic slump, but there has also been an increasingly explicit transformation in national social policy. However, the emergence and persistence of food aid cannot be explained purely as a social and poverty policy issue. This article examines charity food aid as a solution to the hunger problem within the Nordic welfare regime and traces connections linking the establishment of food charity to the prevailing food system. This article focuses on different policy actions and economic developments that took place independently during the 1990s, producing, apparently accidently and without conscious co-ordination, entrenchment of charitable food aid in Finland.

Keywords

Charity food aidhungerNordic welfare stateFinlandsocial policy
Type
Themed Section on Hunger, Food and Social Policy in Austerity
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , July 2015 , pp. 471 - 482
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ahola, E. and Hiilamo, H. (eds.) (2013) Poverty in Helsinki: An Analysis of Social Assistance Recipients and Use in 2008–2010, Kela: Helsinki.Google Scholar
Andersson, S. A. (1990) ‘Core indicators of nutritional state for difficult-to-sample populations’, The Journal of Nutrition, 120, 11, 1555S–1600S.Google Scholar
DeLind, L. (1994) ‘Celebrating hunger in Michigan: a critique of an emergency food program and an alternative for the future’, Agriculture and Human Values, 11, 4, 58–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ericksen, P. J. (2007) ‘Conceptualizing food systems for global environmental change research’, Global Environmental Change, 18, 1, 234–45.Google Scholar
ETL (2011) National Strategic Research Agenda for Food Research: Sustainable and Profitable Production and Consumer Welfare Lay the Foundations for the Success of the Finnish Food Chain, www.etl.fi/.../NationalFoodResearchStrategyinFinland [accessed 10.2.2015].Google Scholar
European Commission (2014) Towards a Circular Economy: A Zero Waste Programme for Europe, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52014DC0398 [accessed 16.3.2015].Google Scholar
Evira (2013) Ruoka-apuun luovutettavat elintarvikkeet, http://www.evira.fi/files/attachments/fi/evira/lomakkeet_ja_ohjeet/elintarvikkeet/elintarvikehuoneistot/ruoka-apuohje_16035_2013.pdf [accessed 28.06.2014].Google Scholar
FEBA (2015) European Federation of Food Banks, http://www.eurofoodbank.eu/portail/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=7&Itemid=26&lang=en [accessed 10.2.2015].Google Scholar
Global FoodBanking Network (2015) What is Food Banking?, http://www.foodbanking.org/food-banking/ [accessed 10.2.2015].Google Scholar
Hänninen, S. (2010) ‘Sosiaalioikeudet ja perustuslakiuudistus’, in Pajukoski, M. (ed.), Pääseekö asiakas oikeuksiinsa? Sosiaali- ja terveyshuollon ulkopuoliset tekijät –työryhmä. Raportti III, Helsinki: THL, pp.183–227.Google Scholar
Hänninen, S. and Karjalainen, J. (1994) ‘Jälkisanat’, in Hänninen, S. and Karjalainen, J. (eds.), Kirjeitä nälästä, Helsinki: Stakes, pp. 270–87.Google Scholar
Heikkilä, M. and Sihvo, T. (1997) ‘Income support as a barometer of economic coping’, in Heikkilä, M. and Uusitalo, H. (eds.), The Cost of Cuts: Studies on Cutbacks in Socila Security and Their Effects in the Finland of the 1990s, Helsinki: Stakes.Google Scholar
Hiilamo, H. and Karjalainen, J. (2010) ‘Köyhät talouskriisin kurimuksessa’, in Taimio, H. (ed.), Hyvinvointivaltion suunta – Nousu vai lasku?, Helsinki: TSL.Google Scholar
Karjalainen, J. (2000) ‘Ruokapankkien paikallinen vaikuttavuus’, in Heikkilä, M., Karjalainen, J. and Malkavaara, M. (eds.), Kirkonkirjat köyhyydestä, Helsinki: Kirkkopalvelut, pp. 267–87.Google Scholar
Karjalainen, J. (2008) ‘Nälkä-äläkästä Nälkäryhmään. Tutkimus, ruokapankit ja politiikka lehdistössä’, in Hänninen, S., Karjalainen, J., Lehtelä, K.-M. and Silvasti, T. (eds.), Toisten Pankki. Ruoka-apu Hyvinvointivaltiossa, Helsinki: Stakes, pp. 69–114.Google Scholar
Keskitalo, E. (2008) Social Citizenship and New Paternalism: Finnish Activation Policy and Street-Level Practice in a Comparative Perspective, National Research and Development Centre for Health and Welfare, Research Reports 1977, Helsinki: Stakes.Google Scholar
Kirkkopalvelut (2014) EU-elintarviketuki – Ruokaa tarvitseville, http://www.kirkkopalvelut.fi/eu-elintarviketuki [accessed 22.12.2014].Google Scholar
Koivupuro, H.-K., Jalkanen, L., Katajajuuri, J. M., Reinikainen, A. and Silvennoinen, K. (2010) Elintarvikeketjussa syntyvä ruokahävikki, Jokioinen: MTT.Google Scholar
Kontula, O. and Koskela, K. (1993) Taloudellisen laman terveysvaikutuksia 1992–1993, Sosiaali- ja terveysministeriön julkaisuja, Helsinki: STM.Google Scholar
Kõre, J. (2014) ‘Hunger and food aid in Estonia: a local authority and family obligation’, in Riches, G. and Silvasti, T. (eds.), First World Hunger Revisited: Food Charity or Right to Food? Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 57–71.Google Scholar
Kuivalainen, S. (2010) ‘Kestääkö suomalainen vähimmäisturva pohjoismaisen vertailun? Vertaileva analyysi vähimmäisturvan tasosta ja sen köyhyyttä ehkäisevästä vaikutuksesta neljässä Pohjoismaassa 1990–2005’, Yhteiskuntapolitiikka, 75, 4, 377–88.Google Scholar
Lang, T. and Barling, D. (2012) ‘Food security and food sustainability: reformulating the debate’, The Geographical Journal, 178, 4, 313–26.Google Scholar
Lehtelä, K.-M. and Kestilä, L. (2014) ‘Kaksi vuosikymmentä ruoka-apua’, in Vaarama, M., Karvonen, S., Kestilä, L., Moisio, P. and Muuri, A. (eds.), Suomalaisten hyvinvointi 2014, Helsinki: THL.Google Scholar
Malkavaara, M. (2002) ‘Nälkä ja köyhyys kirkon asiaksi. Näkökulmia laman ja markkinakilpailun aikaan’, in Mäkinen, V. (ed.), Lasaruksesta leipäjonoihin. Köyhyys kirkon kysymyksenä, Jyväskylä: Atena, pp. 283–312.Google Scholar
Mavi (2010) EU:n ruoka-apu yhteisön vähävaraisimmille, Hakuopas, Seinäjoki: Mavi.Google Scholar
Mavi (2011) Elintarviketukea jakavat järjestöt 1996–2009, Seinäjoki: Mavi, http://www.mavi.fi/fi/index/markkinatuet/eunruokaapuyhteisonvahavaraisille.html [accessed 21.06.2011].Google Scholar
OECD (1981) Food policy, Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Ohisalo, M. (2013) ‘EU:n ruoka-apuohjelman vaikutus ruoka-avun vakiintumiseen Suomessa’, in Niemelä, M. and Saari, J. (eds.), Huono-osaisten hyvinvointi Suomessa, Helsinki: Kela, pp. 146–72.Google Scholar
Pajunen, T. (2012) EU-ruokakasseja jaettiin ennätysmäärä, http://www.kirkkopalvelut.fi/kirkkopalvelujen-uutiset/527-eu-ruokakasseja-jaettiin-ennaetysmaeaerae- [accessed 21.02.2013].Google Scholar
Pérez de Armiño, K. (2014) ‘Erosion of rights, uncritical solidarity and food banks in Spain’, in Riches, G. and Silvasti, T. (eds.), First World Hunger Revisited: Food Charity or Right to Food?, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 131–45.Google Scholar
Poppendieck, J. (1999) Sweet Charity? Emergency Food and the End of Entitlement, New York: Penguin Books.Google Scholar
Poppendieck, J. (2000) ‘Want amid plenty: from hunger to inequality’, in Magdoff, F., Bellamy Foster, J. and Buttel, F. (eds.), Hungry for the Profit: The Agribusiness Threat to Farmers, Food and the Environment, New York: Monthly Review Press, pp. 189–202.Google Scholar
Riches, G. (1997a) ‘Hunger and the welfare state: comparative perspectives’, in Riches, G. (ed.), First World Hunger: Food Security and Welfare Politics, Wiltshire: Macmillan, pp. 1–13.Google Scholar
Riches, G. (1997b) ‘Hunger, welfare and food security: emerging strategies’, in Riches, G. (ed.), First World Hunger: Food Security and Welfare Politics, Wiltshire: Macmillan Press, pp. 165–78.Google Scholar
Ruotsalainen, P. (2011) ‘Jäävätkö tuloerot pysyvästi suuriksi?’, Hyvinvointikatsaus 1/2011, Helsinki: Tilastokeskus, http://www.tilastokeskus.fi/artikkelit/2011/art_2011-03-07_001.html [accessed 15.03.2012].Google Scholar
Saari, J. (2014) ‘Hyvinvointivaltion pohja pitää tilkitä tai ihmiset putoavat leipäjonoon’, Helsingin Sanomat, 17 June.Google Scholar
Saari, J. and Pessi, A. B. (2011) ‘Auttaminen kilpaikukyky-yhteiskunnassa’, in Pessi, A. B. and Saari, J. (eds.), Hyvien ihmisten maa. Auttaminen kilpailukyky-yhteiskunnassa, Helsinki: Diakonia-ammattikorkeakoulu.Google Scholar
Silvasti, T. (2014) ‘Participatory alternatives for charity food delivery? Finnish development in an international comparison’, in Matthies, A.-L. and Uggerhöj, L. (eds.), Participation, Marginalization and Welfare Services – Concepts, Politics and Practices across European Countries, London: Ashgate, pp. 183–97.Google Scholar
Silvasti, T. and Karjalainen, J. (2014) ‘Hunger in the Nordic Welfare State: Finland’, in Riches, G. and Silvasti, T. (eds.), First World Hunger Revisited: Food Charity or Right to Food?, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 72–86.Google Scholar
Statistics Finland (2013) Tuloerot kaventuivat vuonna 2012, http://www.stat.fi/til/tjkt/2012/02/tjkt_2012_02_2013-12-18_tie_002_fi.html [accessed 25.06.2014].Google Scholar
Taimio, H. (2010) Hyvinvointivaltion suunta – Nousu vai lasku?, Helsinki: TSL.Google Scholar
Tarasuk, V. (2005) ‘Household food insecurity in Canada’, Topics in Clinical Nutrition, 20, 4, 299–312.Google Scholar
Tarasuk, V. and Eakin, J. M. (2003) ‘Charitable food assistance as symbolic gesture: an ethnographic study of food banks in Ontario’, Social Science and Medicine, 56, 7, 1505–15.Google Scholar
Teron, A. C. and Tarasuk, V. (1999) ‘Charitable food assistance: what are food bank users receiving’, Revue Canadienne de Santé Publique, 90, 6, 382–4.Google Scholar
THL (2011) Perusturvan riittävyyden arviointiraportti, Helsinki: THL.Google Scholar
THL (2014) Social Assistance 2013, Statistical report 34/2014, http://www.julkari.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/125390/Tr34_14.pdf?sequence=1 [accessed 22.12.2014].Google Scholar
VM (2005) Lissabonin strategia – Suomen kansallinen toimenpideohjelman 2005–2008, https://www.vm.fi/vm/fi/04_julkaisut_ja_asiakirjat/01_julkaisut/02_taloudelliset_katsaukset/97179/97177_fi.pdf [accessed 22.12.2014].Google Scholar