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Short food supply chains (SFSCs) rely primarily on local production and processing practices for the provision of food and are, in principle, more sustainable in social, economic and environmental terms than supply chains where production and consumption are widely separated. This book reviews and assesses recent initiatives on this topic from an interdisciplinary perspective. In theoretical terms it draws on and advances two key concepts, namely, place (particularly embeddedness in local economic networks and communities) and governance (particularly in addressing sustainability concerns in an inclusive and socially just manner). Empirically, the book examines a diverse set of SFSCs such as small-scale entrepreneurship, farmers’ markets, community supported agriculture and grassroots and solidarity networks. The main examples discussed are from Europe and North America, but the issues are applicable in a global context. The book is of interest to advanced students, researchers and professionals in food studies, sociology, geography, planning, politics and environmental studies.
This fascinating and insightful volume introduces readers to food as a window to the social and cultural history and geography of Singapore. It demonstrates how the food we consume, the ways in which we acquire and prepare it, the company we keep as we cook and eat, and our preferences and practices are all revealing of a larger economic, social, cultural and political world, both historically and in contemporary times. Readers will be captivated by chapters that deal with the intersections of food and ethnicity, gender and class, food hybridity, innovations and creativity, heritage and change, globalization and localization, and more. This is a must-read for anyone interested in Singapore culture and society.
Regional development is attracting the attention of policy makers and scientists again, as regions, urban centers and rural areas, experience substantial pressures, particularly in Europe, as a consequence of globalization and geopolitical changes which lead to changes in spatial structures and dynamics. This book is based on the contributions of Greek regional science research presented at the 2006 Congress of the European Regional Science Association at Volos, Greece. The contributions selected to be presented in this book address these changes offering a fresh look into regional development. They provide an overview of regional development concerns from Greek regional scientists but the issues discussed pervade Greek particularities and stimulate thinking about regional science, regional development and regional policy in the early twenty-first century.
This book examines the bioeconomy concept, analysing the opportunities it can generate, the constraints and the potential benefits for society. The main objective of bioeconomy is to promote economic development, by creating jobs and enhancing the sustainable utilization of bio-resources. A primary driver of bioeconomy strategy, therefore, is the need to respond to the growing population's food and economic requirements. While today research and literature related to bioeconomy are limited, this book presents a unique collection of perspectives on the complex dimensions of the bioeconomy debate. Drawing on the experiences from Europe, Asia and Africa, it presents an international overview. T...
This book offers insights into the governance of contemporary food systems and their ongoing transformation by social movements. As global food systems face multiple threats and challenges there is an opportunity for social movements and civil society to play a more active role in building social justice and ecological sustainability. Drawing on case studies from Canada, the United States, Europe and New Zealand, this edited collection showcases promising ways forward for civil society actors to engage in governance. The authors address topics including: the variety of forms that governance engagement takes from multi-stakeholderism to co-governance to polycentrism/self-governance; the value...
This work explores diverse cultural understandings of food practices in cities through the senses, drawing on case studies in the Americas, Asia, Australia, and Europe. The volume includes the senses within the popular field of urban food studies to explore new understandings of how people live in cities and how we can understand cities through food. It reveals how the senses can provide unique insight into how the city and its dwellers are being reshaped and understood. Recognising cities as diverse and dynamic places, the book provides a wide range of case studies from food production to preparation and mediatisation through to consumption. These relationships are interrogated through themes of belonging and homemaking to discuss how food, memory, and materiality connect and disrupt past, present, and future imaginaries. As cities become larger, busier, and more crowded, this volume contributes to actual and potential ways that the senses can generate new understandings of how people live together in cities. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of critical food studies, urban studies, and socio-cultural anthropology.
This collection takes an interdisciplinary look at how the transformation towards plant-based diets is becoming more culturally acceptable, economically accessible, technically available and politically viable. We offer strategies for achieving sustainable food systems without having to forgo succulence, sensuality and sacredness of food. Shifting food systems is one of humanity’s biggest challenges and greatest opportunities. This book explores adaptable and health-promoting plant-based diets, which by their nature can support nourishing environmental, social, ethical, political, and economic outcomes. In this book, detailed descriptions are provided of what constitutes a healthy plant-ba...
Human beings are getting fatter and sicker. As we question what we eat and why we eat it, this book argues that living well involves consuming a raw vegan diet. With eating healthfully and eating ethically being simpler said than done, this book argues that the best solution to health, environmental, and ethical problems concerning animals is raw veganism—the human diet. The human diet is what humans are naturally designed to eat, and that is, a raw vegan diet of fruit, tender leafy greens, and occasionally nuts and seeds. While veganism raises challenging questions over the ethics of consuming animal products, while also considering the environmental impact of the agriculture industry, ra...
As awareness of the commodification of food for profit at the expense of our health and the planet grows, this book foregrounds the communicative dimensions of resistance by food movements. Voice and participation are argued by the author to be the means through which rural and urban communities can, and in many cases do, resist the capture of value by corporate actors and work to democratise their foodscapes. Her critical analysis of meaning-making under neo-liberalism suggests that agroecology, as a socially activating form of agriculture within a food sovereignty framework, provides an example of social learning relevant across rural/urban and North/South divides. Embracing indigenous kno...
Sustainable Food System Assessment provides both practical and theoretical insights about the growing interest in and response to measuring food system sustainability. Bringing together research from the Global North and South, this book shares lessons learned, explores intended and actual project outcomes, and highlights points of conceptual and methodological convergence. Interest in assessing food system sustainability is growing, as evidenced by the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact and the importance food systems initiatives have taken in serving as a lever for attaining the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This book opens by looking at the conceptual considerations of food systems indicato...