An exploration of selected Blue Zones concepts in community food and physical activity settings in Umbria, Italy and Central Ohio

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Despite a large body of research, far-reaching public health interventions, and ever-increasing program funding, the U.S. continues to experience high levels of diet- and lifestyle-related chronic disease (CDC, 2018). A better understanding of the socio-cultural context within which preventative health behaviors operate in a country like Italy, with lower health expenditures and better health data, is key to developing even more effective action to improve health and quality of life in the U.S. The overall goal of this project was to understand and subsequently explore how key topical areas of a popular-press health movement, the Blue Zones Project (BZP) (Buettner, 2015), appear in various food and physical activity settings in Central Ohio and Umbria, Italy. Our specific outcomes for this project were to: Utilize ethnographic methodology (structured observation and interviews) to examine the lived experiences of key informants in settings related to food and physical activity in Umbria and Central Ohio. Utilize specific theories of community and health behavior to examine our findings. Food & place, sense of community, third place, sense of purpose Use our findings to draw connections between theoretical frameworks and selected BZP concepts. We achieved these outcomes by conducting observations and interviews in Central Ohio and Perugia Italy in settings related to food, such as restaurants, farmer’s markets and in kitchens with chefs. In our analysis, we drew connections to several key BZP concepts, particularly as they relate to the concept of “accessibility.” However, this theme of accessibility brought us to the deeper questions of whether it is access to food or access through food that matters most, as well as a description of food as a way of living versus a way of making a living. This presentation will focus on our findings that both support and question these themes.