Food-purchasing behaviour in an Aboriginal community. 1. Results of a survey

Attempts to improve the nutritional status of Aboriginal people through nutritional education programs should be informed by an understanding of contemporary patterns of food procurement, preparation and distribution. This paper describes the results of a survey of food-purchasing behaviour in a central-Australian Aboriginal community. Every transaction occurring in each food outlet in the community over a two-week period was recorded and the data analysed. The results show that women play a much greater role than men in food purchasing, that there is a significant recourse to takeaway foods, that there is a cycle of expenditure determined by distribution of pension and Community Development Employment Project cheques, and that children have sufficient disposable income to be able to provision themselves from the food outlets, so that much of their food consumption is not determined by adult members of their family.