Cultivating choices: A photovoice study exploring lived experiences of food environments for vegetable-rich diets across Fiji's rural–urban gradient

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Understanding structural barriers and enablers of food choice (i.e., the processes by which people consider, select, prepare, distribute, and consume food and beverages, influenced by both individual and external drivers) is critical for tackling poor diets in Fiji. This study used Photovoice to explore how Fijians across five communities in diverse physical contexts-from urban Suva to remote Ovalau-experience vegetable food environments. Thirty-two purposively selected adults captured photographs on five prompts and discussed them in talanoa interviews. Thematic analysis, guided by socioecological and nutrition-equity frameworks, identified factors at the individual, social, physical and macro levels. Key interlinked insights include: (1) Cultivation and wild foraging are the major sources of vegetables, outweighing retail sourcing in rural contexts; (2) Climate variability jeopardises supply, with flooding and drought regularly damaging crops; (3) Social norms steer preferences-communal labour (solesolevaki), gendered food work, and family and peer influence in different directions shaped what was grown, bought, and eaten; (4) Cost and convenience constrain urban intake in particular. Participants universally recognized vegetables as "healthy"; yet affordability, land tenure, and seasonal shocks limited consumption. Respondents called for sustained government and NGO support to diversify and stabilise vegetable availability and access. This study contributes participatory evidence on the lived experience of Fijians of their food environments in a range of physical contexts, adding evidence on structural drivers of food choice for an under-researched food group - vegetables - and in an under-researched context - the Pacific. By centring community voices, this study reveals spatial inequities in Fijian food environments and identifies actionable, place-based levers for healthier diets.