1. Restoring food geographies
Paul Kaldjian, Ph.D.
University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire
Visiting Professor, University of Helsinki
Dodo, 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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2. Ex.: Contribution of traditional
practices for contemporary cities
Istanbul’s Bostans Helsinki’s Siirtolapuutarhas
800 year old gardens 80 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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3. 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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4. Place in food
nothing 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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5. 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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6. Americans have never been farther
removed from the making of their food
USA
USDA
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8. 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 Sites of production
• focus on relatiioships, transparency and trust Production methods
• Holloway et al (2007) Arena of exchange
– Beware alternative-conventional binary Prod-Consumer relationship
– Heterogeneous modes of production Motivations
Identities
Remergence of Farmers’ Markets
• Wisconsin – Pop. 5.6 million
– Nearly 300 farmers’ markets
Eau Claire farmers’ market, built 2006
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9. NYTimes, 11 June 2008
Growing 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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10. • 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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11. 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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12. 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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13. Functional Foods
Superfood or Monster From the Deep?
16.09.2008
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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14. 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)
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