Editorial: New Perspectives on Food Democracy

Abstract

<div>With the overall intention of stimulating the debate on food democracy, this thematic issue aims to shed fresh light on the complex relationship between food and democracy in different contexts. New theoretical perspectives and empirical analyses are presented that explore, sharpen, question, and expand the potential of food democracy as both, an analytical lens onto the state and development of contemporary food systems, and as a political idea for transforming the dominant agri-industrial food system. In this editorial to the thematic issue “New Perspectives on Food Democracy,” we briefly recapitulate the existing debate on food democracy, explain the goals and overarching questions of the thematic issue and provide an overview of the assembled articles.</div>

Sustainable agrifood systems for a post-growth world

“…Land, soil, water, seeds, equipment, techniques, knowledge and skills-each of these resources can be managed through commoning as a way of being 29 practised by humans and non-humans alike. This principle is applied in the various contemporary attempts to advance the governance of agrifood systems through practices of 'food democracy' 30 .…”

On the challenges of making a sustainable kitchen: experimenting with sustainable food principles for restaurants

“…Freedom from constraints -be it financial, conceptual or marketing-related, for example -in a context where kitchen staff are committed and enjoy space for free and authentic deliberation favours higher levels of sustainability. Aligned with recent studies on the frontiers of food democracy (Behringer & Feindt, 2019;Bornemann & Weiland, 2019), authentic deliberation and emancipation can assist our food systems in their transformation towards sustainability. Notes 1. www.hermanns.com/hermanns-eatery/ 2. www.mesapradoze.com 3.…”

Power to the people? Food democracy initiatives’ contributions to democratic goods

“…Originally coined by food policy scholar Tim Lang ( 1999 ; 2005 ), the concept of food democracy has rapidly grown into a key avenue of debate and research within the food governance scholarship (e.g., Hassanein 2003 ; Hamilton 2005 ; Johnston et al 2009 ). In their editorial accompanying a recent special issue on the topic, Bornemann and Weiland ( 2019a , p. 4) explain this interest by the concept’s potential to allow for “new insights into the democratic conditions and consequences of recent developments in the food system”, while, conversely, it can “shed new light on the consequences of recent democratic transformations for the governance of contemporary food systems.” Despite this growing interest, the concept remains characterized by diverging interpretations and considerable ambiguity. Behringer and Feindt ( 2019 ), in this respect, distinguish between two distinct articulations of food democracy discourse that have developed over time.…”