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Restoring food geographies

Paul Kaldjian, Ph.D.University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire

Visiting Professor, University of HelsinkiDodo, Helsinki, 31 May 2009

kaldjian@uwec.edu

Current Research• History with research topics

– Fieldwork 1997-1998• Urban agriculture urban food systems food security

strategies of low income people

• Dissertation– Urban food security and contemporary Istanbul: gardens,

bazaars and the countryside (2000)

• Evolution of research interest– City Countryside

– Local Global

– Traditional Modern Alternative

– Turkey, Wisconsin, Finland

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Ex.: Contribution of traditionalpractices for contemporary cities

Istanbul’s Bostans800 year old gardens

Helsinki’s Siirtolapuutarhas80 year old gardens

Geography of food

• Who eats what, where and why?– Who cares?

– Connecting places and practices of production –distribution – consumption

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Geography of food

• Nature – society interaction– Environment, culture, institutions

• Spatial relationships– Food systems, chains, networks

• Scale– Global-local market places, influences, perception

– We live across scales

Local Foods – Traditional Foods

• Do they matter?– Place, culture, community, sustainability, security

• Food & foodview characterize culture groups– Language, religion, architecture, etc.

• Reputation of a place (Aurier et al 2005)– Image of place in food

– Terroir – taste of region, culture, inhabitants

– Nostalgia and perception

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Place in foodnothing new: Turkey

Geography of food• Shifting geographies of food in USA

– Relocalization – returning place to foods

• Drivers– Reaction – to conventional system

• food scares• mistrust of industry• lack of faith in government

– Action – toward better alternatives• socio-environmental movement• empowerment, community, sustainability

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Choice or manipulation?

Trends in US

• Reconnecting with food– Reducing distance

• cartographic, cognitive, temporal

• cultural, experiential

– Building community

• Real Food

• Local Food• Traditional Food

– Culturally & economically meaningful

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Americans have never been farther removed from the making of their food

USDA

USA

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Conventional Agri-food system

Alternative Food Networks (AFN)

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Alternative Food Networks• Goodman & Dupuis ( 2002)

– Rejects global, industrial and environmentally degrading practices• these characterize the conventional

• Morgan, Marsden, Murdoch (2006)– Return wealth to farmers, trust with consumers– Create space for new forms of political association and market governance

• consumer decision lifestyle change political change

• Follett (2008)– Weak AFNs fail to create change – e.g., Industrialized organic

• standardized – part of Market World• focus on quality of food, not the system – long supply chains• do not challenge power structures

– Strong AFNS• focus on relatiioships, transparency and trust

• Holloway et al (2007)– Beware alternative-conventional binary– Heterogeneous modes of production

Sites of productionProduction methodsArena of exchangeProd-Consumer relationshipMotivationsIdentities

Remergence of Farmers’ Markets

• Wisconsin – Pop. 5.6 million– Nearly 300 farmers’ markets

Eau Claire farmers’ market, built 2006

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NYTimes, 11 June 2008Growing number of Americans are vegetable gardening for the first time or increasing size of existing gardens

Kaldjian back yard, Eau Claire, WI

Harvest

Portion of Kaldjian annual harvest

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• Fall 2006– Geography of Food

• January 2007– Foodlums: new student club

• Spring 2007– Campus garden– Farmers Market

• Fall 2007– Expanding role in community

• One of most energetic campus organizations

– Involved in campus and community– campus food education, – promote local food networks

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Food systems and the re-localizing geography of food

• Protectionism? Nationalism?• Opportunism? Gimmic or fad?• Good idea

– Environmental and social sustainability– Place-building

• Identity– Understanding connections to place, culture, history

• Empowerment– Individual, household, community – sufficiency

Finland, food and changing food landscape

• Finns’ relationship with food– Want to do the right thing

• fair trade• environmental sustainability• be a good citizen/parent

– Limit emotions with food• be thankful that you even have food

– Government as mediator• what people should eat

– Finnish ingredients are best• But what does local mean?

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Finland, food and changing food landscape

• Emphases of food research in Finland– Technologies

– Efficiencies

– Attitudes

– Health

– Environment

– Search for perfect food

Pre- & half-made foods

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Functional Foods

16.09.2008

Superfood or Monster From the Deep?

Finland, food and changing food landscape

• Research Emphases– Technologies, efficiencies, attitudes, health,

environment– Search for perfect food

• Consequences: – Growing distance between people and food– Culture – Frozen development?– Deskilling– Declining discernment

• industrial food as normal, acceptable• ability to advocate for real foods is minimized

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Restoring food geographies• Need critical evaluation of current systems

– Weak, industrial strong, local– Salvation in corporations, government?

• innovation comes from bottom

• People need to be involved in their food– Cooking, growing, understanding, relationships– Power to choose a food future– Understanding transformation

• Accept environment– Live with what we have

• Need to understand place of culture– Recognize cultural bases– Traditional and local as daily, not exceptional

• Hybridity & adaptations– global-local, imported-traditional,”real”- industrialized– urban-rural (e.g., role of kesämökki, urban agriculture)