Presences and absences in food systems depictions: a systematic visual content analysis.

This paper offers a first-in-kind systemic visual content analysis of food systems images.A Google Images search for "food systems" was conducted and the top one hundred were captured. After images were filtered, a total of 82 figures were coded based on their text, pictures, geometric symbols (circles, arrows, etc.), and proportionality. The analysis documented phenomena that were foreground, background, and unrepresented. After reporting on what had been counted through the analysis, discussion turns to addressing the negative data collected—i.e., concepts/phenomena the images failed to represent. The article concludes reflecting on what the analysis means in terms of the food systems thinking and policy deliberations encouraged by these visual representations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]