Soya, culture and international food aid: The case of a Nicaraguan communal kitchen

Abstract— This article examines changing institutional and grass roots strategies in response to hunger and malnutrition in Nicaragua during the period of revolutionary government and the years subsequent to the Sandinistas' 1990 electoral loss. The 1990 change in government put an end to any cohesive national food policy and initiated significant reversals of the land reform programme. In this context of a move away from state support and in an ever-worsening economic situation, grassroots organisations at both the local and national level sought to take over these ‘privatised’ functions. The article will examine a particular grassroots project, the San Rafael communal kitchen, in the context of the national and global factors which shape hunger and attempts to remedy it.