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Food Values

The Local and the Authentic

Department of Anthropology, University of Sussex, J.C.Pratt{at}sussex.ac.uk

Concern about the agro-industrial food system has generated movements that reconnect producers and consumers, either through alternative distribution networks, or through providing histories of each quality foodstuff. Although these movements share a romantic discourse, they have a range of objectives and a more complex relationship to the mainstream than first appears. The article analyses particularly the concept of authenticity, first in representations of food, then more widely as a value that links production and consumption. The material illustrates a wider analysis (in Graeber, Harvey) of the coexistence of monetary and non-monetary value in an economy dominated by the commodity form. Following on from this, the article sets out the different judgements that have been made about the transformative political potential of these movements.

Key Words: authenticity • consumption • food • political movements • production • value

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