Women experiencing homelessness in Downtown São Paulo, Brazil, and access to food.

Food access involves subjective issues, such as food desires. In addition, involves social, political, and cultural structures. This study focused on examining food access among women experiencing homelessness (WeH). We conducted an ethnographic study between 2018 and 2022 with WeH in central São Paulo, Brazil, and data were analyzed using the thematic content analysis method. Black feminist theory and socio-anthropological perspectives on food guided the research"s theoretical, methodological, and ethical approach. Two emic category emerged from the findings about the spaces and ways by which participants accessed food, and their perceptions of this access ("bocas de rango" and "cocas de fudê - "bocas de rango" may be comparable to "food dens", "bocas de fudê" may be loosely translated as "fucking awesome food den" due to the great food experience). We concluded that participants developed strategies for food and nutritional security (FNS) based on their food choices, including what they perceived as pleasurable and desirable to experience through food. In this sense, building FNS by and for WeH requires strengthening the possibilities of material, political, and cultural resources that support their autonomous decision-making about what they want to eat, with their pleasures and desires playing a significant role in this process.