Conference Agenda

Our current food regime is inherently unstable and susceptible to crises. Different food initiatives like community-supported agriculture (CSA) have been addressing these crises, mostly in Northern America and Western Europe, for over 50 years. CSA initiatives in these regions have been largely examined within the alternative food network literature, e.g., focusing on their modus operandi or members’ motivations. We have analyzed CSA in three different countries—Switzerland, Czechia and Argentina. While certain mechanisms and motivations are similar, our analysis highlights the importance of context-specific factors in shaping the transformative potential of these alternatives, and the unique challenges they encounter within the current food regime. Drawing on the interdisciplinary theoretical framework of values-based modes of production and consumption, we put our three cases into dialogue and show that (historical) political contexts (authoritarian political regime, (post) socialism, (direct) democracy) and different positions within uneven development influence the current agricultural structure of each respective country and thus the role of CSA within it. Whereas Argentina and Czechia are characterized by export-driven agroholdings with transnational retail chains profoundly shaping domestic consumption in the case of the latter, Switzerland's agri-food system is strongly finance-led but family-farm orientated. Unlike Czechia, Argentina has not fully adopted the Western model of CSA, among other reasons, due to inhibiting high inflation rates. In Czechia, (peri-)urban areas are centers of CSA and women on maternity leave often represent crucial actors since they value healthy food for their children. There is however, similar to the Argentinian case, a lack of solidarity with farmers on the side of consumers in times of economic hardship, and insufficient institutional support of these bottom-up initiatives. The researched Swiss CSA links urban consumers with rural mountain farmers. The spatial distance and members’ required work stays encompassing the physically demanding and time-intensive task of herding goats pose challenges to the participating members and farmers. Membership in this CSA demands a high level of commitment that diverts from the convenience of the dominant food system, limiting the accessibility of this alternative food initiative. Overall, CSAs in all countries struggle reaching larger groups of the population.

Using qualitative sociological methods, this paper investigates the place and role of alternative food systems and sustainable food consumption as they appear in the everyday food consumption of middle-class, shopping community member consumers in Hungary. The paper is part of a larger nationwide project exploring sustainable food and energy consumption patterns in the context of social inequalities, analysing the meanings of sustainability, and food and energy consumption practices for different social groups.

Shopping communities are typically made up of middle-class consumers. Women and families with small children are at the centre of these communities. The central question is: How does the shopping community change the everyday patterns of food consumption of its members? What amounts of food that are being purchased regularly through the shopping community? What limitations and obstacles have been identified by the members? How is the mainstream food system perceived and represented by the members of the shopping community? How do the community and the activities of the community influence the attitudes, perceptions and behaviour of its members towards sustainable consumption and alternative food system in opposition to mainstream food system?

Shopping communities have mushroomed in Hungary in recent years, mobilising different types of communities and services, typically focusing on issues such as health, quality food, sustainability, local awareness, community values and self-help. In spite of this, the share of the alternative food system in the Hungarian food consumption is still very small and limited. This paper is based on participant observation and over 50 semi-structured interviews with members and organisers of shopping communities across Hungary. We analyse four different types of shopping communities, ranging from online markets to community-supported agriculture (CSA), and from well-organised small-town communities to loose, extended networks in Budapest. The study sheds light on the diverse attitudes and perspectives of middle-class consumers towards alternative food systems and sustainable food consumption.

The first results of the analysis show that the main value of the shopping community as an alternative food system is related to health and quality food. However, most consumers also use the mainstream food system in their daily food consumption practices. Only the members of a small, strong community are more focused on sustainable food choices, awareness and behaviour, and tend to use the alternative food system in their everyday food consuming practices.

Framed within debates about moral/affective economies, and based on longitudinal ethnographic research, this paper explores intergenerational exchanges of food and foodstuffs within families in rural South Bohemia. Through a detailed examination of the kinds of foodstuffs that are exchanged, the paper demonstrates how various intra-familial modes of food sharing smoothly combine market-based products with home grown food and include a range of substances; from raw meat via readymade dishes to food waste. Food is given and received as part of everyday, non-conspicuous interactions between kin (mainly women), bordering on other often “invisible” everyday activities such as childcare. The “easiness” of the exchanges, and the strong lines of affect and obligation that underlie this circulation, indicate a local food system that is both flexible and resilient. In a longitudinal perspective, we find that it has been subject to substantial change, though. This includes changes in the food self-provisioning carried out by families - thus the mix between “home grown/bred” and market- based food stuff - and in gendered responsibilities and labour related to food work. The paper discusses some of these changes and their possible implications for the local food system as such.

Food self-provisioning (FSP) is one of the most important legacies of agricultural civilizations. In today’s world of uncertainties, the practice of FSP enhances resilience and promotes sustainable growth. FSP also has the function of creating and altering spaces in both tangible and intangible ways. With the needs for green living, it not only promotes balanced development and a symbiotic relationship between human and nature, but also to transform of existing lifestyles with vitality and creativity.
FSP disrupts and reconnects the dualities of urban/rural and human/nature. Rural life experiences have become increasingly popular among urban residents, who spend their holidays at farmhouses, orchards, and farmers’ markets. Farming-related activities bring people close to nature, where burnt-out urbanites rediscover the integration of the mind and the body through unalienated leisure. FSP is thus viewed as a nurturing practice to enhance one’s vitality, creativity and mindfulness.
The philosophy of FSP also contributes to community building by educating its participants on virtues such as diligence, thrift, and solidarity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, FSP not only relieved the stress of food shortage for many households, but also promoted mutual assistance and friendship among community members.
This article starts with sociological empirical evidence but then moves further to explore the significance of FSP as a bridge for integrating urban and rural development. The author will discuss the future potential of FPS in the framework of sociological imagination, the practical challenges of its popularization in China, and the capacity of “space” as an enabling mechanism for social change. Our conclusion: as a resilient food supply alternative system, FSP can be sure to help people resist climate change and uncertain future, as well as to transform of existing lifestyles with vitality and creativity.