The Curated Food System: A Limiting Aspirational Vision of What Constitutes “Good” Food

Abstract

In an effort to elucidate an aspirational vision for the food system and explore whether the characteristics of such a system inadvertently set unattainable standards for low-wealth rural communities, we applied discourse analysis to the following qualitative datasets: (1) interviews with food experts and advocates, (2) scholarly and grey literature, (3) industry websites, and (4) email exchanges between food advocates. The analysis revealed eight aspirational food system discourses: production, distribution, and infrastructure; healthy, organic, local food; behavioral health and education; sustainability; finance and investment; hunger relief; demand-side preferences; romanticized, community led transformations. Study findings reveal that of eight discourses, only three encompass the experiences of low-wealth rural residents. This aspirational food system may aggravate the lack of autonomy and powerlessness already experienced by low-wealth rural groups, perpetuate a sense of failure by groups who will be unable to reach the aspirational food vision, silence discourses that might question those that play a role in the inequitable distribution of income while sanctioning discourses that focus on personal or community solutions, and leave out other policy-based solutions that address issues located within the food system. Further research might explore how to draw attention to silenced discourses on the needs and preferences of low-wealth rural populations to ensure that the policies and programs promoted by food system experts mitigate poor diets caused by food insecurity. Further research is needed to inform policies and programs to mitigate food insecurity in low-wealth rural populations.

Food Insecurity in the Rural United States: An Examination of Struggles and Coping Mechanisms to Feed a Family among Households with a Low-Income

“…It was clear that federal food assistance contributed to the participant's food security but was not the entire solution to address all of a family's food needs due to, in large part, affordability of adequate food. These findings are especially important to consider in context as rural households are often in communities with majority low-wage jobs, have higher rates of unemployment and underemployment, and have transportation barriers that limit access to food sources, increasing rural rates of food insecurity compared to urban counterparts [27][28][29]64] Limitations to this research exist. Given that the data was collected from 25 to 28 individuals across 6 diverse geographic, economic, ethnic, racial, and politically leaning counties in 6 different states, the research findings are limited in generalizability and should be interpreted with caution.…”

Stakeholders’ vision and global goals for food systems in the Solomon Islands: identifying relevant indicators to track progress

“…Participatory approaches are recognised as an important endeavour in research addressing complex sustainability challenges (Karlsson et al, 2018). While some research has used participatory methods to identify visions for desirable food systems (Andress et al, 2020;Belisle-Toler et al, 2021;Foresight4Food, 2024) or food system indicators (Woodley et al, 2009;Carey and Dubbeling, 2017;Allen et al, 2019;Community Social Planning Council and Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable, 2020;Chaido Anthouli et al, 2022), we have only identified one food system-related initiative, on coastal fisheries, which has applied these methods in the identification of pathways to change along with relevant indicators (Secretariat of the Pacific Community, 2015). Another initiative worth noting here, is the Food Systems Analysis Toolkit, which has used participatory methods to develop indicators for three African countries to track progress along the UNFSS Action Tracks, however it also mapped these using adapted conventional frameworks (The Rockefeller Foundation, 2023).…”

Sustainable Agri-Food Systems: Environment, Economy, Society, and Policy

“…Ajates [413]; Ajates [414]; Akinola et al [415]; Al Sidawi et al [416]; Alae-Carew et al [417]; Albert et al [418]; Al-Jawaldeh et al [419]; Allaby et al [388]; Amicarelli and Bux [420]; Amiri et al [421]; Amiri et al [422]; Andress et al [423]; April-Lalonde et al [424]; Aschemann-Witzel et al [425]…”