Food Environments in Times of Crises: Examining Menu Changes in Response to COVID-19 Among Hispanic Caribbean Restaurants in New York City

ABSTRACT

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected independently owned restaurants with implications for food access and health equity. Changes in healthy food availability (HFA) were examined in a randomly selected sample of Hispanic Caribbean restaurants in New York City, before and after the COVID-19 onset (n = 76), using an adapted Nutrition Environment Measurement Survey for Restaurants. An overall decrease in HFA scores was found and changes HFA components (fried foods and vegetarian options increased, 100% fruit juice decreased, p < 0.10). Changes were examined against restaurant characteristics. This work augments our understanding of ethnic restaurants and the nutrition implications of business adaptations when responding to emergencies.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• food environments
• restaurants
• hispanic/latino community
• NEMS-R
• nutrition
• food access

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Tamara Alam and Fabien Ca for their assistance with data collection and menu assessments, and Tracy L. Caldwell, PhD for her guidance in the preliminary data analysis process.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no financial interest or benefit to declare.

Data availability statement

Available upon request.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Heart, Lung, And Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number K01HL147882 and the Professional Staff Congress-City University of New York (PSC-CUNY) Research Award Program (#62534-00 50). The funders had no role in the design, analysis or writing of this article. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.