Growing health: Cultural assets for garden-based diabetes prevention within an urban Filipino and Pacific Islander community

Background/Significance: Garden-based interventions are an emerging tool for addressing health disparities in low-income urban neighborhoods. Evidence suggests that these programs may help improve both access and consumption of healthy foods. Low-income Filipino and Pacific Islanders in the United States experience disparate rates of diabetes and heart disease; “garden education” is increasingly being integrated into diabetes-prevention efforts with these communities. However, most garden curricula are not culturally-tailored for these populations, and assume that urban residents have little food-cultivation experience. Little is known about assets or preferences for home gardening within low-income urban Filipino or Pacific Islander communities in the United States. Objective/Purpose. The objective of this project was to identify the existing food-growing practices within an urban low-income Filipino and Pacific Islander community. Methods: A random sample of census blocks was drawn from a densely-populated low-income Filipino (41%) and Pacific Islander (36%) neighborhood in urban Honolulu. The sample was GIS-mapped with zoning and property lines. Observers were trained to recognize food-plants common in the Philippines and the Pacific Islands; an environmental scan was then conducted to identify parcels with food cultivation, and types of food plants grown. Results: 27% of all properties were cultivating food plants. Greater diversity was found in single-family-home zoning, but food cultivation was also prevalent in multifamily, business, and industrial areas; 93% of all blocks had at least one food-growing property. 93% of all food plants seen were fruit trees, with papaya (38%), mango (18%), citrus (17%), banana (12%) most common. Vegetable cultivation was disproportionately located in single-family zoning. Discussion/Conclusions: Results suggest urban Filipino and Pacific Islander communities may contain substantial food-growing assets, but that preferences tend towards fruit tree production and traditional vegetables rather than towards standard garden-curricula items like lettuce and tomatoes. These assets and preferences should be considered when designing community garden-based interventions.