The Politics of Grocery Shopping - The Oxford Topic of Food, Politics, and Society - page 654

is seen as problematic. This perspective seeks to disconnect consumption from consum-
erism and the corporate commodification of food. Kaila, a 26-year-old consultant, put it
this way:
My reason for making a political statement through my consumer purchases is want-
ing to disengage from the way that food is a commodity . . . I believe in a community
and I believe in a market where people know one another, and I don't think a con-
sumer mentality applies in the same way to that kind of food system.
While Kaila critiqued the idea that “food is a commodity,” she identified progressive
possibilities in small-scale markets with social connections, like farmers' markets. An
ecological citizenship perspective seeks to avoid or minimize commoditization, par-
ticularly on a large corporate scale, but need not reject all market projects. Ideal sites of
consumption are typically located within realms where food is relatively decommodi-
fied and defetishized, particularly when compared to big-box supermarket shopping.
Cara, a 35-year-old stay-at-home mother of three children, for example, explained this
in terms of the importance of having a relationship to the people who produce her fam-
ily's food. She drew on her experience raising three children to highlight this imperative:
My eldest child once said to me, “Bacon comes from Whole Foods.” And I [thought]
“No, you can't think that!” So now it's very important to us to go to farmers' mar-
kets . . . [where] they can meet farmers [who will] talk about “oh, the chickens run
over there.” . . . That's very important to me because [otherwise] you get too urban
and you don't understand where [food] comes from, you don't respect it, and there-
fore you start to degrade it.
Similarly Kat, a 37-year-old social worker, discussed the importance of knowing where
food comes from and being involved in growing it. Referring to a conventional grocery
store in her neighborhood, she explained her distaste:
It's a big corporation, and you just feel a bit more detached from that, even though
they do say that they're providing more local food and stuff. I look at the stickers on
the fruit [that say so] but I still don't always know.
Moreover, from an ecological citizenship perspective, sites for consumption that are dis-
connected from the corporate foodscape were viewed as opportunities for structural
change. Self-sufficiency through growing one's own food, or forming farming or buying
cooperatives, was frequently referenced as an opportunity for change, and as an oppor-
tunity to build community. Kat, for example, owns a share in a community-supported
agriculture (CSA) operation, and every week she picks up her produce at a depot, allow-
ing her to socialize with other shareholders. On the weekends she works in a community
garden, and she hopes to take a leave from her paid employment to volunteer on an
organic farm. She said this in reference to the food she eats:
It is a very big part [of my life] actually. In fact, when I get together with friends it's
always around food. That's how social gatherings happen and potlucks and it's a big
part of my smaller community of friends . . . . My recreational activities [are] gar-
dening, berry picking, growing food, learning how to grow food and do different