Paper short abstract:

A questionnaire issued by tradition archive Norwegian Ethnological Research in 2016 on stories from "my kitchen", there is a remarkable great demand for organic and sustainable food. I this paper I investigate the respondents answers as a form of activism towards the modern food system.

Paper long abstract:

A questionnaire issued by tradition archive Norwegian Ethnological Research in 2016 on stories from "my kitchen", there is a remarkable great demand for organic and sustainable food.

People across the country in urban and rural areas, young and old prefer organic and local food. "I always buy organic eggs," is a common phrase. Many prefer to cook from scratch, providing food from kitchen gardens, forest and sea is not uncommon.

Official Norwegian policy through several governments is that by 2020, 15 percent of national food production and consumption is to be organic. Organic farming has even status as the spearhead and corrective to conventional agriculture.

This policy has however not yet gained much effect. Compared to other Nordic countries, there are not many organic food products in Norwegian supermarkets and food stores. The production has neither increased. In other words, it seems that there is a gap between what people want and what they easily can get.

In my paper I investigate the respondents answers as a form of activism. Inspired by the British scholar Sarah Pink and her kitchen studies from 2012, I will look at food practices in the kitchens as activism in everyday life, as a resistance towards the modern food system and as expression of innovation, creativity and responsibility.

References:

Pink, Sarah (2012): Situating Everday Life. Practices and Places. Sage.