Capturing the foodscape of mangrove fishers in Indonesia

Mangroves and small-scale fisheries are frequently framed as critical to food systems sustainability, yet the communities that depend on them often remain marginalised within policy processes. Dominant approaches to achieve food systems sustainability have tended to prioritise technical and measurable dimensions, overlooking how food is experienced, valued, and made meaningful in everyday life. This study focuses on the lived experiences of mangrove small-scale fishers in Indonesia. Using a foodscapes lens, we explore how fishers make sense of, and give meaning to, the relationship between food, people, and place, with particular attention to the gendered nature of these experiences. Drawing on participatory visual methods, we generate visual and qualitative data on fishers’ practices and experiences, which are analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. We identify three key themes: (a) the fish catch reflects the fisher, (b) finding peace and joy in the foodscape, and (c) mangrove livelihoods rely on both land and sea. These findings reveal contrasts between global and local narratives: while food sustainability discourses emphasise nutritional and environmental functions, fishers understood food as embedded in socio-cultural meanings, reciprocity, and place-based identities. We highlight the need to re-examine the role of mangrove fisheries by recognising the interconnectedness of fishing and land-based activities, especially for women who particularly make this relationship visible. We argue that sustainability interventions informed by dominant global narratives risk misalignment with local realities and call for greater attention to lived experiences in designing more context-sensitive and inclusive food systems policies.