This capstone explores food anxiety as a culturally specific and psychosocially complex experience among Chinese and Chinese American individuals living with type 2 diabetes (T2D). Despite medical advances in T2D treatment, U.S. healthcare systems remain ill-equipped to address the emotional and cultural dimensions of chronic disease management. Through a biosocial analysis, this paper reframes food anxiety as a product of biological, emotional, historical, and structural forces. It reveals how standard dietary advice often conflicts with cultural food practices, resulting in shame, isolation, and internal conflict. Existing interventions, including lifestyle, behavioral, and technological tools, offer valuable support yet often fail to integrate cultural identity or address emotional distress. In response, this paper introduces Wabu’s Table, a digital storytelling platform that offers culturally mindful recipes, shared illness narratives, peer forums, and resources tailored for Chinese and Chinese American communities with T2D. By centering lived experience and community-based storytelling, the platform reimagines diabetes care not just as symptom management, but as a culturally affirming and emotionally supportive process. Wabu’s Table aims to offer a new model for health interventions that prioritize identity, empathy, and visibility in ways traditional systems often neglect.
