Alison Blay-Palmer - Food Fears
Publisher: Ashgate | 2008-05-20 | ISBN: 0754672484 | PDF | 196 pages | 1.57 MB


With escalating rates of diabetes, cancer and obesity, excessive foodmiles and the consequences for global climate change, farm crises, foodinsecurity and the 'fast food' culture, the industrial food system ofthe West is increasingly perceived as problematic. The physical, socialand intellectual distance between consumers and their food stems from afood system that privileges quantity and efficiency over quality, withan underlying assumption that food is a commodity, rather than a sourceof nourishment and pleasure.However, in the wake of various foodscares, there is growing momentum from consumers to change the foodthey eat; which in turn acts as a catalyst for the industry to adaptand for alternative systems to evolve. Drawing on a wealth of empiricalresearch into mainstream and alternative food systems in North America,this book argues that sustainable, grass roots, local food systemsoffer a template for meaningful individual activism as a way to bringabout change from the bottom up, while at the same time creatingpressure for policy changes at all levels of government. This movementsignals a shift away from market economy principles and reflects adesire to embody social and ecological values as the foundation forfuture growth..