Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Food justice: turning private choices into public issues

  • Discussion Piece
  • Published:
Agriculture and Human Values Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper uses distinctions between differing senses of “private,” “public” and “political” in the United States to argue for the value of framing food issues as a collective problem that calls for broadscale demands for justice. We argue that food choices do not simply belong to the realm of private preferences and market transactions. Rather, they are a set of decisions that have systemic causes and public consequences. They are shaped and constrained by public policies that underwrite the transportation of food over long distances as well as particular crops and foodstuffs, and by the vendors and advertisers who try to convince us to eat more of the foods they produce. Because the consequences of eating an abundance of empty calories are not easily remedied at the personal level, citizens need to demand public, systemic solutions, including better food information, youth food education, and a healthier food supply.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. See Slow Food Manifesto:https://slowfood.com/filemanager/Convivium%20Leader%20Area/Manifesto_Quality_ENG.pdf

  2. For a similar study of how whiteness pervades farmers’ markets see Alkon and McCullen 2011. Similarly, Anguelovski (2015) describes how a dominant white institution, Whole Foods, took over a Latino supermarket in Jamaica Plain, Boston.

  3. The notion that consuming prepared foods with lots of empty calories puts people’s health at risk is not universally accepted. We acknowledge Guthman’s arguments that call into question the slide from correlation into causation and suggest that being overweight or obese is not definitively connected to being at greater risk of ill health (Guthman 2011a).

  4. The material here is drawn from an on-going dissertation project that compares food literacy initiatives in the US and Italy.

  5. The Denver Food Vision document was published in 2017 and is available at the following link: https://www.denvergov.org/content/dam/denvergov/Portals/771/documents/CH/Final_FoodVision_120717.pdf.

  6. HFDK has developed a map application identifying priority neighborhoods currently served, available at the following link: https://cohealthinst.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=37184a4d300142fda9f65c7205c62b74&extent=-11728734.2175%2C4799588.8794%2C-11612549.9345%2C4863490.2351%2C102100).

  7. The HFDK Commission’s working definition of at-risk is defined as: “Individuals who demonstrate status including but not limited to: racial/ethnic minority, low socioeconomic status, low income, refugee/immigrant, transgender or gender non-confirming, LGBTQ + , differently abled, experiencing homelessness.” Additionally, an At-Risk Rank index is used later in the report (see page 9); when referring to this specific index, capital letters will be used (e.g. At-Risk Rank).

  8. HFDK grantees include non-profits, public schools, and city agencies.

  9. Neighborhoods not identified as priority may still be included in HFDK funding activities, if they include residents who are considered socially disadvantaged or underserved.

References

  • Agarwal, B. 2014. Food sovereignty, food security and democratic choice: critical contradictions, difficult conciliations. The Journal of Peasant Studies 41 (6): 1247–1268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Agyeman, J., D. Schlosberg, L. Craven, and C. Matthews. 2016. Trends and directions in environmental justice: From inequity to everyday life, community, and just sustainabilities. Annual Review of Environment and Resources 41 (1): 321–340.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Alkon, A.H., and J. Agyeman. 2011. Introduction: The food movement as polyculture. In Cultivating Food Justice: Race, Class, and Sustainability, ed. Alison Hope Alkon and Julian Agyeman. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Alkon, A.H., and J. Guthman. 2017. The New Food Activism: Opposition, Cooperation, and Collective Action. Oakland: University of California Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Alkon, A.H., and K.M. Norgaard. 2009. Breaking the food chains: An investigation of food justice activism. Sociological Inquiry 79 (3): 289–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anguelovski, I. 2015. Alternative food provision conflicts in cities: Contesting food privilege, injustice, and whiteness in Jamaica Plain, Boston. Geoforum 58: 184–194.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bagdonis, J.M., C.C. Hinrichs, and K.A. Schafft. 2009. The Emergence and framing of farm-to-school initiatives: Civic engagement, health and local agriculture. Agriculture and Human Values. 26 (1–2): 107–119.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benford, R.D., and D.A. Snow. 2000. Framing processes and social movements: An overview and assessment. Annual Review of Sociology 26 (1): 611–639.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boero, N. 2013. Obesity in the media: Social science weighs in. Critical Public Health 23 (3): 371–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boling, P. 1991. The democratic potential of mothering. Political Theory 19 (4): 606–625.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boling, P. 1996. Privacy and the Politics of Intimate Life. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bornemann, B., and S. Weiland. 2019. Empowering people—democratising the food system? exploring the democratic potential of food-related empowerment forms. Politics and Governance 7 (4): 105–118.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brownell, K., and K.B. Horgen. 2004. Food Fight: The Inside Story of the Food Industry, America’s Obesity Crisis, and What We Can Do About It. NY: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brownell, K.D., and K.E. Warner. 2009. The perils of ignoring history: big tobacco played dirty and millions died: how similar is big food? The Milbank Quarterly 87 (1): 259–294.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cadieux, K.V., and R. Slocum. 2015. What does it mean to do food justice? Journal of Political Ecology 22: 1.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. 2010. 558 U.S. 310

  • Clendenning, J., W.H. Dressler, and C. Richards. 2016. Food justice or food sovereignty? understanding the rise of urban food movements in the USA. Agriculture and Human Values 33 (1): 165–177.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooksey-Stowers, K., M. Schwartz, and K. Brownell. 2017. Food swamps predict obesity rates better than food deserts in the United States. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 14 (11): 1366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shelby County v. Holder. 2013. 570 U.S. 529

  • DuPuis, E. M., J. L. Harrison, and D. Goodman, Just Food? 2011. Chapter 13 of Alkon, A. H., & Agyeman, J. (Eds). Cultivating food justice: Race, class, and sustainability. Cambridge, MIT Press

  • DuPuis, E.M., and D. Goodman. 2005. Should we go ‘“home”’ to eat?: Toward a reflexive politics of localism. Journal of Rural Studies 21 (3): 359–371.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Finnemore, M., and K. Sikkink. 1998. International norm dynamics and political change. International Organization 52 (4): 887–917.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gottlieb, R., and A. Joshi. 2010. Food justice. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Greene, M., B. Houghtaling, C. Sadeghzadeh, M. De Marco, D. Bryant, R. Morgan and D. Holston. 2022. African Americans' perceptions of nutrition interventions: a scoping review. Nutrition Research Reviews. May 2022.

  • Guthman, J. 2011a. Weighing In: Obesity, Food Justice, and the Limits of Capitalism. Berkeley: UC Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Guthman, J. 2011b. ’If they only knew’: The Unbearable Whiteness of Alternative Food. In: Alkon, A. H., & Agyeman, J. (Eds). (2011b). Cultivating food justice: Race, class, and sustainability. MIT Press, Cambridge

  • Hassanein, N. 2003. Practicing food democracy: A pragmatic politics of transformation. Journal of Rural Studies 19 (1): 77–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hassanein, N. 2008. Locating Food Democracy: Theoretical and Practical Ingredients. Journal of Hunger & Environmental Nutrition 3 (2–3): 286–308. https://doi.org/10.1080/19320240802244215.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • HFDK. 2018. General Ballot Language: Healthy Food For Denver’s Kids Initiated Ordinance 302. Retrieved July 25, 2023 from https://www.denvergov.org/files/assets/public/public-health-and-environment/documents/cbh/2018general_ballot_language.pdf

  • HFDK. 2020a. Healthy Food for Denver’s Kids Baseline Assessment. Retrieved July 25, 2023 from https://www.denvergov.org/files/assets/public/public-health-and-environment/documents/cbh/hfdk_baseline_2020a-final.pdf

  • HFDK. 2020b. Healthy Food for Denver’s Kids Theory of Change. Retrieved July 25, 2023 from https://www.denvergov.org/Government/Agencies-Departments-Offices/Agencies-Departments-Offices-Directory/Public-Health-Environment/Community-Behavioral-Health/Food-System-Policies/Healthy-Food-for-Denvers-Kids/Healthy-Food-Denvers-Kids-Impact-Reports

  • HFDK. 2022. Healthy Food for Denver’s Kids Year Two Final Report. Retrieved July 25, 2023 from https://www.denvergov.org/files/assets/public/public-health-and-environment/documents/cbh/healthy-food-for-denvers-kids/2022-reports/hfdk-report_year2-final-508_1.pdf

  • Holt-Giménez, E., R. Patel, and A. Shattuck. 2009. Food rebellions! Crisis and the hunger for justice. Oakland: Food First Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Horst, M. 2017. Food justice and municipal government in the USA. Planning Theory & Practice 18 (1): 51–70.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrence, R. 2004. Framing obesity: The evolution of news discourse on a public health issue. Harvard International Journal of Press/politics 9 (3): 56–75.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lusk, J. 2013. The Food Police: A well-fed manifesto about the politics of your plate. New York: Crown Forum.

    Google Scholar 

  • McGlynn, J., and M.S. McGlone. 2018. Desire or Disease? Framing obesity to influence attributions of responsibility and policy support. Health Communication 34 (7): 689–701.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, R.B., and C. Carpenter. 2019. Norms for the Earth: Changing the climate on ‘climate change.’ Journal of Global Security Studies 4 (4): 413–429.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moss, M. 2014. Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us. NY: Random House.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nguyen, H. 2018. Sustainable Food Systems: Concept and Framework. FAO: 1–8. Available at http://www.fao.org/3/ca2079en/CA2079EN.pdf.

  • Patchett, A.D., H.R. Yeatman, and K.M. Johnson. 2016. Obesity framing for health policy development in Australia. France and Switzerland. Health Promotion International 31 (1): 83–92.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pitkin, H. 1981. Justice: On relating public and private. Political Theory 9 (3): 327–352.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powell, L.J., and H. Wittman. 2018. Farm to School in British Columbia: Mobilizing Food Literacy for Food Sovereignty. Agriculture and Human Values 35 (1): 193–206.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Powell, L.M., J.L. Harris, and T. Fox. 2013. Food marketing expenditures aimed at youth: Putting the numbers in context. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 45 (4): 453–461.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Raymond, L., S.L. Weldon, D. Kelly, X.B. Arriaga, and A.M. Clark. 2014. Making change: Norm-based strategies for institutional change to address intractable problems. Political Research Quarterly 67 (1): 197–211.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richard, L., L. Gauvin, and K. Raine. 2011. Ecological models revisited: Their uses and evolution in health promotion over two decades. Annual Review of Public Health 32: 307–326.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saguy, A.C., K. Gruys, and S. Gong. 2010. Social problem construction and national context: News reporting on “Overweight” and “Obesity” in the United States and France. Social Problems 57 (4): 586–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sallis, J.F., and K. Glanz. 2009. Physical activity and food environments: Solutions to the obesity epidemic. The Milbank Quarterly 87 (1): 123–154.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schanbacher, W.D. 2010. The Politics of Food: The Global Conflict Between Food Security and Food Sovereignty. ABC-CLIO.

  • Smaal, S.A. L., J. Dessein, B. J. Wind, and E. Rogge. 2020. Social Justice-Oriented Narratives in European Urban Food Strategies: Bringing Forward Redistribution, Recognition and Representation. Agriculture and Human Values. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-020-10179-6 (Accessed July 27, 2021).

  • Stone, D. 1989. Causal stories and the formation of policy agendas. Political Science Quarterly 104 (2): 281–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stone, D.A. 1997. Policy paradox: the art of political decision making. New York: WW Norton.

    Google Scholar 

  • Story, M., K.M. Kaphingst, R. Robinson-O’Brien, and K. Glanz. 2008. Creating healthy food and eating environments: Policy and environmental approaches. Annual Review of Public Health 29: 253–272.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. 2006. Policy Brief: Food Security. Available at: https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/faoitaly/documents/pdf/pdf_Food_Security_Cocept_Note.pdf (Accessed July 25, 2023).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Professor Emerita, Department of Political Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA

    Patricia Boling

  2. Department of Political Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, USA

    Chiara Cervini

Authors
  1. Patricia Boling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Chiara Cervini
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patricia Boling.

Ethics declarations

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This article does not contain any studies with animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Boling, P., Cervini, C. Food justice: turning private choices into public issues. Agric Hum Values (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-023-10503-w

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-023-10503-w

Keywords

Search

Navigation