Social initiatives that seek to promote socially fairer and environmentally more sustainable food production and distribution schemes have multiplied in the last two decades. Several studies have analysed their impacts and showed high contextual variability, making visible some of their contradictions. This research is interested in Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) as spaces of political mobilisation that aim to modify the predominant food systems. The analysis focuses on the role played by social capital in the capacities and strategies of AFNs to influence the design of public policies. The research was carried out in Mexico City as part of a wither participatory action research project. It is based on participant observation and discussion groups with representatives of citizen collectives involved in agroecological food distribution. The results show that the forms of social and cultural capital are key factors in understanding the interest and capacities of AFNs to strengthen collective action. The study also identifies the importance of the initiatives’ managers as facilitators of interactions between AFNs and other entities, such as universities and civil society organisations, which can ease the influence of social initiatives in the design of public programmes.

Small producers in peri-urban areas have been identified as key actors in building more sustainable urban food systems, but they often have limited capacities to develop and consolidate their initiatives. This article describes the conditions of peri-urban farmers in Mexico City who work with agroecological schemes, analyzing the role of social and cultural capital in their ability to consolidate their economic-productive projects and establish links with consumers in the city. The research was developed from an anthropological perspective based on field visits and interviews conducted in 60 production units located in the peri-urban area of Mexico City. The article discusses the literature on peri-urban agriculture and the contextual particularities of the case study and then describes a typology constructed based on the analysis of the documented cases, considering the objectives of the initiatives and the different types of social and cultural capital on which their activities and marketing strategies are based are considered. The discussion argues that the social and cultural capital of the production units are key elements in determining the viability of the agroecological transition, reaffirming the importance of social articulation and other sociocultural aspects for the promotion of sustainable food projects.

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Purpose This paper aims to analyze the conceptions that underlie the notion of “sustainable food” of different social actors based on a study focused on promoting sustainable food strategies on university campuses. Design/methodology/approach The research incorporates the views of various actors linked to a sustainable food project on the campuses of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), which is one of the most important universities in Latin America. The study includes a literature review on food sustainability strategies on university campuses and implemented sustainable food programmes in 100 universities worldwide. It also incorporates semistructured interviews and discussion groups conducted with consumers of the university community, 60 smallholder farmers and managers of 23 alternative food networks in Mexico City. Findings This research evidence the diversity of meanings and perspectives associated with food sustainability and a generalized emphasis on its environmental dimensions, although environmental problems tend to be partially understood. It also highlights the priority students and producers give to the accessibility of healthy foods. Research limitations/implications The results of this study revealed important elements, potentially useful for designing sustainable food strategies on the campuses, considering the principles of the rights-based approach to development and social participation. Originality/value The research evinces tensions in the definition of food sustainability and its translation into actions from a multistakeholder perspective.

This research focused on the food situation of poor households in Mexico City and specifically on women’s coping strategies to meet their families’ food needs under growing economic insecurity. The survey highlighted the cooking techniques used by a group of women to blend commercial ingredients into everyday dishes to satisfy family expectations in terms of taste, appearance, and texture relative to ‘traditional’ food dishes. This chapter shows how these techniques are gradually changing the array of everyday dishes served in Mexico City—a phenomenon described as a process of building ‘modern food traditions for precarious times’.