Geographies of Food

What is the future of food in light of growing threats from the climate emergency and natural resource depletion, as well as economic and social inequality? This textbook engages with this question, and considers the complex relationships between food, place, and space, providing students with an introduction to the contemporary and future geographies of food and the powerful role that food plays in our everyday lives. Geographies of Food explores contemporary food issues and crises in all their dimensions, as well as the many solutions currently being proposed. Drawing on global case studies from the Majority and Minority Worlds, it analyses the complex relationships operating between people and processes at a range of geographical scales, from the shopping decisions of consumers in a British or US supermarket, to food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa, to the high-level political negotiations at the World Trade Organization and the strategies of giant American and European agri-businesses whose activities span several continents.With over 60 color images and a range of lively pedagogical features, Geographies of Food is essential reading for undergraduates studying food and geography.

ContentsList of figuresList of tablesList of boxesList of activitiesInsightsPrefaceAcknowledgementsDedicationPart 1: The Place of FoodChapter 1: Introducing Geographies of Food 1.1 Introduction1.2 What are food geographies?1.2.1 Multiple food meanings1.2.2 Food, place, space and scale1.2.3 Mobilities and transformation: power and control1.3 Geographical imaginations and food's geographies1.4 Structure of the bookChapter 2: Food and Place Identity 2.1 Introduction2.2Making food and making places: landscapes, nations and labour2.3 Moving food and making places: placing and displacing2.3.1 Placing food: the case of 'terroir'2.3.2 Displacing and placing food: migrant cuisines2.3.3 Placing diets2.4 Summary2.5 Further readingPart 2: Geographies of Food Production, Transformation and ConsumptionChapter 3: Geographies and Politics of Agricultural Production3.1 Introduction3.2 Geographies of food production: a global perspective3.2.1 A global typology of primary food production systems3.2.2 Overcoming the land-bias: the role of fisheries and marine management3.2.3 Back to the land: global levels of food production3.2.4 Geographical distribution of agricultural land3.3 Agro-food commodity chains: product sector geographies3.3.1 Cereals production3.3.2 Fruit and vegetables3.3.3 Meat and the changing chicken3.3.4 Spatial concentration, newly agriculturalising economies and relational assemblages3.4 Producing food in the city: urban agriculture3.5 Agricultural policy: political geographies of food production3.5.1 The US Farm Bill3.5.2 The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)3.5.3 Comparing the US Farm Bill and the CAP3.6 Summary3.7 Further readingChapter 4: What Happens to Food: Geographies of Mobility and Transformation4.1 Introduction4.2 Mobility and transformations: geographies and relationships4.3 Transforming agriculture and food under capitalism: the agrarian question4.4 Liberalising food mobility: global trade policy and global food regimes4.5 Government intervention, global food governance and free trade4.5.1 From protectionism to free trade4.5.2 Trading blocs and subsidy debates4.5.3 Anti-politics and trade disputes 4.6 Global food trading: mobilising High Value Foods (HVFs)4.7 'Big Food': transforming and industrialising food4.8 Working in farming and food processing: the human cost4.9 Wasting food in industrialised food systems4.10 Summary4.11 Further readingChapter 5: Eating Geographies: The Spaces and Cultures of Food Consumption5.1 Introducing the geographies of eating5.2 The shifting geographies of food consumption5.3 Food's cultural geographies: eating space(s), places and connections5.3.1 The spaces of food: the foodscapes of acquisition and access5.3.2 The cultural spaces of food: the city, home and eating on the run5.3.3 Eating the cosmopolitan city5.3.4 Home cooking and eating5.3.5 Eating bodies: making spatial and cultural connections through identities5.4 Eating geographical politics and ethics5.4.1 Vegetarianism, veganism and low carbon diets5.4.2 Food provenance: knowing your food5.5 Summary: eating space, place and scale5.6 Further readingPart 3: Geographies of Food Crisis and ResponseChapter 6: Food Systems in Crisis? The New Food Insecurity6.1 Introduction6.2 The contours of the world food crisis6.2.1Food prices and the 2007-08 price spike6.3 The new food security debate6.4 Explaining the 2007-2008 food price crisis: the new fundamentals 6.4.1Climate change and food insecurity6.5 Financial speculation and the food crisis6.5.1 Financial markets and agricultural derivatives6.5.2 Food speculation, food prices and food security6.6 Other critical interpretations of the food crisis and food insecurity6.7 Summary6.8 Further readingChapter 7: The Fight against Hunger and Malnutrition in the Majority World7.1Introduction7.2 The scale and geography of hunger and malnutrition in the Majority World7.2.1 Defining hunger and malnutrition7.2.2. Where do hunger and malnutrition occur?7.3 Causes of hunger and malnutrition in the Majority World 7.3.1 Poverty, Inequality and Conflict 7.3.2 International structural inequalities7.4 The international response to hunger and malnutrition: from Green Revolution to the Sustainable Development Goals7.4.1 The Green Revolution7.4.2 The World Food Conference and the World Food Summits 7.4.3 The Millennium Development Goals7.4.4 The Sustainable Development Goals7.5From corporate power to people power: the rise of food sovereignty7.5Summary7.6Further readingChapter 8: Food Insecurity Amidst Wealth8.1 Introduction8.2 Food insecurity in the 21st Century: scale, causes and consequences8.2.1 What is food insecurity in rich countries?8.2.2 The scale of food insecurity8.2.3 The experience of food insecurity8.2.4 Causes of food insecurity: Poverty, deprivation and food deserts2.4.1 Poverty and deprivation2.4.2 Food deserts8.3 Solutions to food insecurity8.3.1 Charitable food aid and the role of corporations 8.3.2 The right to food 8.3.3 Food sovereignty movements in wealthy countries8.3.4 The movement for food justice8.4. Summary8.5 Further readingChapter 9 Reconnecting Consumers, Producers and Food 9.1 Introduction9.2 AFNs: definition and geography9.2.1 Defining AFNs9.2.2Alternative food geography: reclaiming space and place9.3 'First Generation' AFNs: locality foods, local food networks and fair trade9.3.1 Commodity circuits and geographical knowledges: the case of locality foods9.3.2 Local food networks: relations-of-proximity9.3.3 Farmers' markets: purpose and benefits9.3.4 Social embeddedness, geographies of regard and an ethic of care in AFNs9.3.5 The 'local trap' and further critiques of AFNs9.4 Fair Trade networks: The moral economy of getting to know your coffee farmer9.4.1Fair Trade: connecting places and development through alternative markets9.4.2Into the mainstream and into the (fairer) future9.5 'Second generation' AFNs and sustainability transitions9.5.1 The Local Food programme in England9.5.2 Food hubs and solidarity purchasing groups9.5.3 Food security, transition theory and grassroots social innovations9.5.4 Civic food networks9.6 Summary9.7 Further readingPart 4: Geographies of Possible Food FuturesChapter 10: Future Scenarios for Sustainable Food and Farming 10.1 Introduction10.2 Towards sustainable food10.3 Beyond productivist agriculture and 'big food': competing emergent paradigms and 'food wars'10.4 Technocentric approaches: sustainability through science?10.5 Ecocentric approaches: sustainability through agroecology?10.6 Sustainable diets and a decentralised food politics10.6.1 Towards reflexive food governance?10.6.2 Digital foodscapes and food citizenship10.7 Summary10.8 Further readingChapter 11: Conclusions11.1 Introduction11.2 Aftertaste - key themes revisited11.2.1 Multiple food geographies11.2.2 The co-production of food, place, space and scale11.2.3 Mobilities, transformation, power and control11.3 Changing the food system: putting ourselves in the mix11.4 Last bites for food citizensReferencesIndex