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- Convenor:
-
Yve le Grand
(ICS - Institute of Social Sciences - University of Lisbon)
- Location:
- Block 1, Piso 1, Room 74
- Start time:
- 20 April, 2011 at
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
- Session slots:
- 2
Short Abstract:
As people have to eat everyday, the production and consumption of food is of the essence. However, how food is produced and distributed, and what food is eaten has a direct impact on our natural and social environment. Exploring more sustainable foodways is essential for food production and consumption not to become environmental dilemmas.
Long Abstract:
Current issues and developments in the global food system of industrial meat production and its detrimental impact on the environment have led various researchers and institutions to suggest that eating less meat and adopting a vegetarian - or even a vegan - diet would lessen the impact of GHG emissions into the environment. This discussion is becoming more and more urgent, as it seems that humanity is on a suicidal crash course when it comes to food production and consumption. Despite record agricultural production, one in every six people goes hungry every day. At the same time obesity - in both developed and developing countries - is on the rise.
For some, eating meat is becoming an environmental dilemma. Issues to be discussed are:
- Is the increase in the consumption of meat supply- or demand-driven?
- How can food production keep up with a growing world population in terms of resources and social justice?
- Can people become food agents again as opposed to food 'choosers' (Appadurai)?
- If the supply side does not change, how can the demand side induce change?
In short, the panel will entail a discussion about what would be a more sustainable way of eating and how to get there.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Jón Þór Pétursson (University of Iceland)
Paper short abstract:
Is ethical eating an alternative to capitalist consumption, or is it just plain old capitalism with a happy face? How has the Western infatuation with organic, ecological and local food redefined our ideas of traditional foodways? These two interrelated questions provide the focus for my examination of “biorexia”, a term that designates the complex of ideas, discourse and practices surrounding organic and ethical consumption.
Paper long abstract:
Is ethical eating an alternative to capitalist consumption, or is it just plain old capitalism with a happy face? How has the Western infatuation with organic, ecological and local food redefined our ideas of traditional foodways? These two interrelated questions provide the focus for my examination of "biorexia", a term that designates the complex of ideas, discourse and practices surrounding organic and ethical consumption.
Global ideas about local production, organic agriculture, and ethical consumption have made considerable impact on local food culture in Iceland. This sector of the food industry has grown dramatically, both internationally and in Iceland, as the consuming public grows increasingly concerned about the use of pesticides, hormones, and additives, and as awareness is raised of the working conditions of the people responsible for producing the food. In this lecture, I will explore the proliferation of ideas about ethical consumption in Iceland, a society otherwise marked by excessive consumption.
Moreover, I will consider how these global trends affect and reinvent the notion of traditional food, enhancing local flavors and giving value to traceability; giving to food products the name of a region, a farm or an individual producer. One way to read this is as a reversal in which the fear connected to food production has turned away from the natural to the social. Nature is no longer dirty, but pure, and other people are no longer guarantors of hygiene but sources of pollution and toxicity.
Gerda Jonasz (Central European University)
Paper short abstract:
How discourses promoting small-scale organic agriculture in an endangered urban fringe contribute to the construction and defense of cultural landscapes. Farmer self-realization through cultivation and landscape safeguarding,responding to certain demands of conscious consumer citizens.
Paper long abstract:
My paper is based on a fieldwork conducted in the Huerta de Valencia in Spain. I found that small scale organic farms integrate certain discourse themes and identify them as added-value to their production. Self-realization of these farmers is manifested through selecting cultivation modes that are in line with their believes. By this the contribute to the preservation of the traditional living cultural landscapes of the peri-urban fringe surrounding the city of Valencia, endangered by rapid territorial transformation.
Ecological entrepreneurship has the potential to contribute to the sustainability and the economic viability of these fields. The research aims to address how the discourse themes of such ecological entrepreneurs reflect on the spatial and social embeddedness of their production system. The interaction with conscious consumer and citizen groups is key in valuing the efforts of the farmers in the protection of the Huerta, both anxious to keep these agrarian fields alive. Many initiatives promote the direct engagement of city dwellers with these lands through directly buying its products. One of the most important elements discovered is that the social embeddedness of organic production is eventually position it as a kind of local fair trade. Cultivating the land for many of these ecological entrepreneurs is a way of life, a way of self-realization, manifestation of their identity. Through engaging in organic production this self-realization is recognized by many as a form of added-value, contributing to the self-esteem of these producers.
Yve le Grand (ICS - Institute of Social Sciences - University of Lisbon)
Paper short abstract:
In this paper I present the fieldwork that I have done in 2009 with an environmental activist group based in Lisbon, Portugal.
Paper long abstract:
During the fieldwork - 4 months of participant observation - I have studied the Jantar Popular (JP), literally the people's dinner, that GAIA - Grupo de Acção e Intervenção Ambiental, an environmental NGO, facilitates every Thursday of the week, except for August.
The dinner is vegan, made with organic, gmo-free, locally produced and socially just ingredients. Facilitated by GAIA, this dinner is completely organized by volunteers, from planning the menu to cleaning up the space(s) at the end of the evening: without volunteers there would be no dinner.
During the JP the eater is connected through food with the other eaters. Thus, commensality becomes an ideal tool for activism, putting environmental food politics into practice through 'just' eating in common. At the same time, the JP becomes a Temporary Vegan Zone (TVZ), as it creates an opportunity for people to transcend their everyday experience of food.
Being in the TVZ, is an opportunity to think and talk with other people with every bite that is taken. At the same time one is temporarily free from corporate food oppression.
Connie Reksten (Western Norway University of Applied Sciences (HVL))
Paper short abstract:
Today the sensory landscape is becoming a feature of the regionalisation process that is currently under way, in most of Europe. In this process, food can look like a powerful incentive to rebuild and reinventing today's European regions.
Paper long abstract:
Today's European regions are being made accessible and meaningful through their flavours. Different regions are makingd cooking stews. People are tasting, discussing and having opinions about food in a way that is entirely new.
The sense of taste and taste preferences play a strikingly important role in the modern regionalisation process. But the modern regions and their meanings are inevitably vague. What it means and will mean, what moral landscape will eventually unfold, remain unknown. Food thus becomalisation process is due to its ability to express a "commenced reality". In other words there is a banal connection between food, the mouth and language.
In the presentation I will discuss empirical studies of three empirical cases, all Food Festivals in three different parts of Europe and European regions. The presentation will therefore be based on empirical studies of fieldwociated with sensuality, place and regionalisation.
Fabiana Thome da Cruz (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul) Renata Menasche (Federal University of Pelotas - UFPel)
Paper short abstract:
From ethnographic fieldwork carried out in the Campos de Cima da Serra region, in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, we collected perceptions of producers and consumers in relation to a traditionally produced cheese, Serrano Cheese, which is very much appreciated by many people in the region.
Paper long abstract:
Campos de Cima da Serra, a region located in the southernmost state of Brazil, shows specific characteristics such as native grasslands, high altitudes and low temperatures, which contribute to the production of Serrano Cheese, made from unpasteurized milk. The techniques and know-how to produce it have been handed down from generation to generation for more than 200 years. The ethnographic fieldwork carried out in this region allowed us to highlight some relevant characteristics and perceptions of producers and consumers about the cheese. The commercialization occurs in the same town of production or nearby, where this cheese is widely appreciated by consumers. Although a considerable number of producers are aware of hygiene issues, they do not meet the requirements established by hygiene laws. As a consequence, this cheese has had its production and commercialization threatened. For this reason, the sales usually occur through informal channels, which is possible due to the close and trusting relationships between consumers and producers. Consumers perceive qualities such as taste, tradition and knowledge about the producers`systems as important characteristics to choose this cheese instead of large-industrialized ones. Although industrialized foods have been on the table even in rural areas, the traditional foods have kept their place and importance in the families' diet. Moreover, to producers, industrialized food can be easily bought, but traditional ones, such as Serrano Cheese, have kept their place not just on the table but also as an important source of income to many rural families` maintenance in Campos de Cima da Serra.
Elsa Mateus (Institute of Social Sciences - University of Lisbon) Nadja Murta (Universidade Federal dos Vales do Jequitinhonha e Mucuri - UFVJM)
Paper short abstract:
During the nineteenth century, beef was essential in the composition of the rations given to Portuguese sailors. The analysis of documents in the Navy Historical Archives allows discussing the production, supply, storage and consumption of meat, focusing on issues of public health (human and animal).
Paper long abstract:
Along the nineteenth century, beef was considered a basic food in the dietary composition of the rations offered to the Portuguese sailors.
We intend to address different aspects and discussions on production, supply, storage and consumption of meat during this period.
The analysis of documents belonging to the Navy Historical Archives, allows us to discuss those aspects, focusing on issues of public health, both human and animal.
In fact, innovations resulting from industrialization and medical science were highly considered, once it was necessary to establish standards regarding quantity, quality, preservation and consumption of meat in the Navy.
Moreover, negotiating for beef supply often became an economic problem for the State, since all colonies were involved in its production and marketing.
This historical approach can provide new insights to the discussion, revealing different levels of socioeconomic meanings, related to beef consumption in Portugal in the nineteenth century.