Food Values in Europe

Description

What can a focus on “food projects” in Europe tell us about contemporary social processes and cultural debates? Valeria Siniscalchi and Krista Harper show how food becomes a marker of identity and resistance to social exclusion, and how food values become tools for transforming power dynamics at the local level and beyond. Through the comparison of food-centered movements across Europe, the book explains how these forms of mobilization express ideologies as well as economic and political objectives. The chapters use an ethnographic approach to focus on the transformation of values carried by individuals and groups in relation to food in Portugal, Greece, Latvia, Moldova, Denmark, the UK, Italy, and France. Contributors analyze food values, as expressed in daily life and livelihoods, through specific practices of production, exchange, and consumption. Topics covered include Prague’s urban agricultural scene, the perception of poverty in Moldova, shepherds’ protests in Sardinia, and organic food cooperatives in Catalonia. Title Page Copyright Page Contents Illustrations Figures Table Acknowledgments Foreword Chapter 1: Value and Values in Food Projects in Europe Food projects in comparative perspective Theorizing value and values The historical background of food projects in Europe Crosscutting dimensions of food values in Europe Conclusion References Part 1: Prosuming Values Chapter 2: Food Values in a Lisbon Urban Garden: Between Sabor, Saber, and the Market Introduction The research setting Food values in an urban garden Valuing quality: Sabor and Saber as values Sabor and saber in conflict: Seeds of discontent Economic values: Market-price calculation versus sharing and vizinhança Market and non-market values in conflict: The great rototiller debate Analysis and conclusions References Chapter 3: Growing Together: Conspicuous Production and Quality Produce in Czech Community Gardens Questions of quality Colony and cottage gardens Prazelenina: An urban pleasure garden Vidimova: Emerging urban commons Conclusion Notes References Chapter 4: Subsistence Farming in Styria, Austria Historic context Subsistence farming continued Living with nature Distrust and independence Conclusion Notes References Part 2: Calculating Values Chapter 5: The Moral Price of Milk: Food Values and the Intersection of Moralities and Economies in Dairy Family Farms in Galicia Introduction Milk price crisis and the just price Quality Sustainability Conclusion Notes References Chapter 6: From Milk Price to Milk Value: Sardinian Sheepherders Facing Neoliberal Restructuring The great sheep massacre: Shepherds between non-agency and freedom Sardinian pastoralism: From capitalist incorporation to neoliberal globalization The price of milk: Global fluctuations and local arrangements The value(s) of milk and the shepherd’s “noble work” Conclusion Acknowledgment Notes References Chapter 7: “Small Farms, Better Food”: Valuing Local Agri-Food Systems in Europe from the European Peasants Coordination to the Nyéléni European Forum for Food Sovereignty Common agricultural policy and the rise of agricultural productivism in Europe In search of an alternative to EU CAP Toward a “common food policy” for Europe? The movement for food sovereignty in Europe Conclusion Notes References Part 3: Connecting Values Chapter 8: Solidarity, Calculation, and Economic Proximity inside the “Vegetable Basket” System in the South of France Fieldwork “Baskets” and “vegetable baskets” Contracts and solidarity Food values Where is the money? The economic proximity Crisis and calculation Local versus ethical: The elasticity of the system Notes References Chapter 9: Within and Beyond the Market System: Organic Food Cooperatives in Catalonia Cooperation in the interstices Organic food provisioning networks Food resistances in a capitalist hegemony Prices come back! Dilemmas of organic farmers and food coops Alternatives to precarity or alternative economies? Acknowledgments Notes References Chapter 10: Seventy Percent Zapatista? Solidarity “Ecosystems” and the Troubles of Valuing Labor in Food Cooperatives “Gefira”: An anti-middleman action that would “take over the world” “Ecosystem of the like-minded” Lykaon: Troubles with labor Toward a conclusion: Labor troubles in food struggles Notes References Part 4: Consuming Values Chapter 11: Fairness Is Elsewhere: “Training” Fair Trade in Post-Socialist Contexts Introduction Narrowing networks Expanding solidarities Shifting subjectivities Conclusion: Moral economies and geographies of fairness Acknowledgments Notes References Chapter 12: The Changing Value of Food: Calculating Moldova’s Poverty Food values Food and poverty in Europe’s poorest country Poverty as lack of food Contestation: “We are not starving” Visions of plenty Memories of starvation, images of poverty and plenty Missing the value of food in the calculation of poverty Conclusion Notes References Chapter 13: Food Values among African Caribbean Migrants in England Introduction Racism, exclusion, and the importance of Caribbean food values Cooking and eating at home: Enculturating Caribbean food values in Chapeltown Shared community meals as a source of resilience and memory “Food values” in health and food justice work in Chapeltown Conclusion References Chapter 14: Debating Halal in Contemporary Denmark Introduction What is halal meat? Halal activist practices Islam and halal in Denmark Halal consumers: Contested values between stunned and un-stunned meat Discussion Notes References Chapter 15: Concluding Comments: The Essential Ambiguity of the Value of Food Types of resistance Gift and commodity Values Notes References Contributors Index