Five global food trends for 2015
Rabble.ca
By Wayne Roberts, January 12, 2015
I have no idea whether cauliflower will send kale back to the farm leagues this year, or if Greek yoghurt is doomed to eat the dust of customers rushing away to kefir, or whether harissa will redefine cool and sriracha will be yesterday's hot sauce.
But I can see some clear trends arising from deep-going changes within our global food system. We are in a moment of greater shift disturbing than any since the modern food movement emerged full-blown from distinct social, cultural, spiritual, ecological and public health organizations during the 1990s.
My list of ten themes that are reaching breakthrough proportions this year suggests a tipping point. We have now crossed the divide to a place where food practices are never taken for granted, where contesting dominant practices is the norm, and where it assumed that a lot of things have to change.
Demographic changes probably deserve as much credit for this transformation as food organizations, but the point is that the food movement is now in phase 3 of the famous 4-phased change cycle -- first they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they debate you, then you win.
The first global megatrend, rising militant protests by food workers, reveals a paradox about what is called the food movement -- though gourmets, restaurant reviewers and dietitians are welcome, the movement is primarily about people, not food. That's why justice and social equity are so central to the food agenda.
Throughout the Global South, rebellion against impoverishment of farmworkers has been the norm since the 1990s, giving rise to the huge global peasant movement, Via Campesina. By 2014, Via Campesina was routinely invited to a range of UN meetings related to food, agriculture and rural life, and contributed key portions of the agenda.
In North America and Europe, most food jobs are in cities, largely in processing , retail and services, and protest has an urban swing.
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