Healthy Local Food for All (or a few?): A Realist Evaluation of Eat Well Tasmania’s Seasonal Food Media Campaign

Tasmania is Australia’s island state. The mediatized and material representation of Tasmania is typified by a contradictory narrative. The touristic image, centred on celebrating the state as a bountiful supplier of fresh, seasonal produce and boutique food and wine is contrasted by Tasmanian’s high rates of food insecurity and high levels of non-communicable diseases, contributing to public health outcomes that fall below the rest of Australia. The publicly funded organisation Eat Well Tasmania (EWT) are charged with promoting healthy food choices to Tasmanians through a combination of media artefacts and in-person information sessions. By their own admission and research EWT’s messaging is not reaching those communities often labelled as food insecure (and experiencing other adverse public health issues). This presentation reflects on findings of a study conducted by researchers at the University of Tasmania Media & Communication Program investigating the cultural, socio-economic and/or geographic barriers to engagement with food messaging. Drawing on Pawson and Tiley’s (1997; 2004), methodological framework of Realist Evaluation with its foundational statement to investigate “what works, for whom, in what circumstances and how” (2004: 2), and using focus groups as the principal data-gathering tool, this study found a divide between those who activity seek information pertaining to the production, preparation and/or consumption of seasonal food, and those who regard these practices as outside of their cultural sphere of knowledge or interest. This division does not directly co-relate to socio-economic disparities or regional locations, but findings suggest a class-based perception of seasonal food, which contrasts with EWT’s mandate and objectives. The researchers conclude that Tasmania’s touristic narrative has contributed to an exclusionary perception of local food, that runs counter to the material reality of cost and availability.