Food citizens?

The ERC project 'Food citizens?' is a comparative analysis of a growing phenomenon in Europe: collective food procurement, namely networks of people who organize direct food production, distribution, and consumption.

Download the project book: Food Citizens?

Collective food procurement in European cities: solidarity and diversity, skills and scale

The project studies several cases in Gdańsk, Rotterdam and Turin: self-production and foraging (for example in food gardens); short food chains (for example through food cooperatives), and local food governance (for example through food councils, but also social networks or NGOs). ‘Solidarity’, ‘Diversity’, ‘Skill’, and ‘Scale’ are our categories of analysis, to ask questions such as: Which skills do people involved in collective food procurement acquire or lack? How do they operate across and within diverse communities? Do their networks scale ‘up’ or ‘out’, and how? How do they interpret and articulate solidarity? To what extent do collective food procurement networks indicate emerging forms of ‘food citizenship’, and what might this mean? Which practices and notions of civic participation, solidarity, diversity and belonging do they use and produce, and how?