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The Role of Culture and Food Heritage in Promoting Sustainable Food Choices and Tackling Global Challenges

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainable Food".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 24572

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Theano Moussouri

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
Interests: food heritage; public engagement with science and academic research; audience research; participatory research methods; applications of location-aware technology in cultural settings
Dr. Georgios Alexopoulos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Archaeology, University College London, London, United Kingdom
Interests: food heritage; heritage management; balancing tangible with intangible heritage values; living religious heritage; audience research; heritage sustainability
Dr. Diana Rahman

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute for Sustainable Heritage, University College London, London, United Kingdom
Interests: heritage management; intangible heritage; cultural landscape; indigenous knowledge; discourse and dissonant heritage; foodways

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Understanding the impacts of food system activities on the natural environment and communities is an urgent global concern. Published literature demonstrates that the adoption of sustainable patterns of production and consumption in food and agriculture has a great impact on the development of sustainable food systems (e.g., Blay-Palmer, 2010). Sustainable food production and consumption, as well as the interconnectedness of food systems, are crucial concerns in the globalised world; therefore, they are addressed by a wide range of disciplines. More recently, there has been an increased interest in the importance of culture, food knowledge, and food heritage in shaping human behaviour and food choices. There is evidence to suggest that food heritage can act as a catalyst for responsible food production and consumption and for advancing a global transition to sustainable food systems (Kapelari et al., 2020).

The aim of this Special Issue of Sustainability is to present the latest theoretical ideas and methodological approaches to examining the relationship between food heritage and sustainable food choices and its role in tackling global challenges. We welcome submissions from a wide range of discplines and sub-fields including anthropology, sociology, geography, heritage and cultural studies, archaeology, history, social and political ecology, agroecology, food studies, political economy, and cultural and natural resource management. Particular emphasis will be given to interdisciplinary works and innovative perspectives.

References:

Arnés, E., & Astier, M. (2019). Handmade comal tortillas in michoacán: Traditional practices along the rural-urban gradient. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(17). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16173211

Blay-Palmer, A. (Ed). (2010). Imagining sustainable food systems. London, Routledge.

Kapelari, S.; Alexopoulos, G.; Moussouri, T.; Sagmeister, K.J.; Stampfer, F. Food Heritage Makes a Difference: The Importance of Cultural Knowledge for Improving Education for Sustainable Food Choices. Sustainability 2020, 12, 1509.

Reuter, T. (2019). Understanding Food System Resilience in Bali, Indonesia: A Moral Economy Approach. Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment, 41(1), 4–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/cuag.12135

People’s Knowledge Editorial Collective (Eds). (2017). Everyday Experts: How people’s knowledge can transform the food system. Reclaiming Diversity and Citizenship Series. Coventry: Coventry University. Available at: www.coventry.ac.uk/everyday-experts.

Morgan, C.B. and Trubek, A.B., 2020. Not yet at the table: The absence of food culture and tradition in agroecology literature. Elem Sci Anth, 8(1), p.40. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.437

Henderson, J. C. (2014). Food and culture: In search of a Singapore cuisine. British Food Journal, 116(6), 904–917. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-12-2012-0291

Owino, F. O. (2019). Socio-cultural Determinants of Food Security and Consumption Patterns in Kisumu, Kenya. Food and Public Health, 2019(4), 119–124. https://doi.org/10.5923/j.fph.20190904.03

Nemeth, N., Rudnak, I., Ymeri, P., & Fogarassy, C. (2019). The role of cultural factors in sustainable food consumption-An investigation of the consumption habits among international students in Hungary. Sustainability (Switzerland), 11(11). https://doi.org/10.3390/su11113052

Cafer, A. M., Willis, M. S., Beyene, S., & Mamo, M. (2015). Growing Healthy Families: Household Production, Food Security, and Well-Being in South Wollo, Ethiopia. Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment, 37(2), 63–73. https://doi.org/10.1111/cuag.12053

Johnston, E. L. (2016). Agrarian dreams and neoliberal futures in life writing of the alternative food movement. Food and Foodways, 24(1–2), 9–29. https://doi.org/10.1080/07409710.2016.1142779

Richard Pfeilstetter (2015) Heritage entrepreneurship. Agency-driven promotion of the Mediterranean diet in Spain, International Journal of Heritage Studies, 21:3, 215-231, DOI: 10.1080/13527258.2014.930502

Dr. Theano Moussouri, Dr. Georgios Alexopoulos, and Diana Rahman

Guest Editors

Dr. Theano Moussouri
Dr. Georgios Alexopoulos
Dr. Diana Rahman
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • cultural and agricultural context of food
  • foodways
  • food heritage
  • food knowledge
  • food habits
  • sustainable food systems
  • sustainable production and consumption
  • food security
  • food democracy

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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19 pages, 4542 KiB  
Article
The Value of Ethnographic Research for Sustainable Diet Interventions: Connecting Old and New Foodways in Trinidad
by Marisa Wilson
Sustainability 2023, 15(6), 5383; https://doi.org/10.3390/su15065383 - 17 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1652
Abstract
Recent policy and scholarly attention to traditional food has highlighted its importance for developing culturally-appropriate sustainable diet interventions. Yet most approaches to traditional food maintain an unhelpful dichotomy between traditional and modern foodways. Ethnographic research into the ways people experience and articulate the [...] Read more.
Recent policy and scholarly attention to traditional food has highlighted its importance for developing culturally-appropriate sustainable diet interventions. Yet most approaches to traditional food maintain an unhelpful dichotomy between traditional and modern foodways. Ethnographic research into the ways people experience and articulate the substitution of previously homegrown foods with modern industrial foods can uncover aspects of local food heritage that have been previously hidden or undermined. The central aim of this paper is to demonstrate the usefulness of ethnographic approaches for recent policy debates around the importance of tradition for sustainable diets. An ethnographic ontology, which takes cultural meanings and values of ultra-processed foods as well as so-called traditional foods seriously, can provide a more nuanced picture of food system transitions that can inform sustainable dietary interventions. A combination of ethnographic methods was used for this paper, including participant observation, photo elicitation, questionnaires and go-along/shop-along interviews with N = 200 research participants. Subsequent ‘armchair’ research revealed important insights about Afrodescendant and Indigenous food heritage in Trinidad and Tobago, indicating the need for future research in this area. In particular, the findings suggest that cultural values of ‘colour’ and ‘(local) flavour’ connect old and new foodways in Trinidad and Tobago. Values of colour and flavour, along with shared feelings elicited through the ethnographic research such as concerns about agrochemical use and nostalgia for household food production, can inform the development of culturally-appropriate sustainable diet interventions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Culture and Food Heritage in Promoting Sustainable Food Choices and Tackling Global Challenges)
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23 pages, 501 KiB  
Article
Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems and Biocultural Heritage: Addressing Indigenous Priorities Using Decolonial and Interdisciplinary Research Approaches
by Krystyna Swiderska, Alejandro Argumedo, Chemuku Wekesa, Leila Ndalilo, Yiching Song, Ajay Rastogi and Philippa Ryan
Sustainability 2022, 14(18), 11311; https://doi.org/10.3390/su141811311 - 9 Sep 2022
Cited by 12 | Viewed by 6889
Abstract
The food systems and territories of Indigenous Peoples sustain much of the world’s biodiversity, cultivated and wild, through agroecological practices rooted in Indigenous cosmovision and cultural and spiritual values. These food systems have a critical role to play in sustainability transformations but are [...] Read more.
The food systems and territories of Indigenous Peoples sustain much of the world’s biodiversity, cultivated and wild, through agroecological practices rooted in Indigenous cosmovision and cultural and spiritual values. These food systems have a critical role to play in sustainability transformations but are widely threatened and have received limited research attention. This paper presents the results of four virtual workshops with Indigenous Peoples: a global workshop and local workshops with communities in coastal Kenya, northeast India and southwest China. Indigenous participants highlighted the role of their food systems in resilience to climate change, nutrition, sustainability and resilience to pandemics, and threats from agriculture, development and conservation policies. They called for research on the rapid loss of Indigenous knowledge; Indigenous Peoples’ land rights and food sovereignty; and the impacts of industrial agriculture on Indigenous food systems, stressing the need for decolonial approaches to revitalise Indigenous knowledge. The paper presents a decolonial and interdisciplinary framework for action-research on Indigenous food systems past and present, from farm to plate, drawing on the virtual workshops, Andean decolonising methods and historical approaches. It concludes that decolonising action-research, led by Indigenous Peoples, is urgently needed to reverse the rapid loss of food-related biocultural heritage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Culture and Food Heritage in Promoting Sustainable Food Choices and Tackling Global Challenges)
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19 pages, 314 KiB  
Article
Recipes for Resilience: Engaging Caribbean Youth in Climate Action and Food Heritage through Stories and Song
by Nicole Plummer, Marisa Wilson, Inna Yaneva-Toraman, Charmaine McKenzie, Sylvia Mitchell, Patricia Northover, Kate Crowley, Thera Edwards and Anthony Richards
Sustainability 2022, 14(14), 8717; https://doi.org/10.3390/su14148717 - 16 Jul 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2636
Abstract
This paper presents findings from the Recipes for Resilience project, an international, interdisciplinary collaboration between Caribbean and UK scholars of history, geography, anthropology, cultural studies, development studies, ethnobotany, and climate-risk studies, and the research partners, the Caribbean Youth Environment Network. The purpose of [...] Read more.
This paper presents findings from the Recipes for Resilience project, an international, interdisciplinary collaboration between Caribbean and UK scholars of history, geography, anthropology, cultural studies, development studies, ethnobotany, and climate-risk studies, and the research partners, the Caribbean Youth Environment Network. The purpose of the project was to investigate how agrifood heritage may be mobilized in creative ways to engage Caribbean youth in climate action and justice. The project utilized arts and humanities methods, such as storytelling, songwriting, online games, and brief research-led talks, culminating in the co-created song: “Food and Resistance for Climate Resilience”. The results of the project provide evidence that climate action requires arts and humanities methods to appeal to youth, as opposed to purely fact-based or scientific forms of climate communication. We conclude that co-creative methods such as music and storytelling can inspire youth to engage in climate action, in this case through a (re)valuation culinary and agricultural heritage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Culture and Food Heritage in Promoting Sustainable Food Choices and Tackling Global Challenges)
16 pages, 1581 KiB  
Article
The Social Ecology of Food: Where Agroecology and Heritage Meet
by Diana Rahman, Theano Moussouri and Georgios Alexopoulos
Sustainability 2021, 13(24), 13981; https://doi.org/10.3390/su132413981 - 17 Dec 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4131
Abstract
The current food system is unsustainable and no longer able to cope with the challenges caused by climate change and consumer behaviours. In this context, agroecology, with its commitment to crossing disciplinary boundaries, has been endorsed as one of the main approaches to [...] Read more.
The current food system is unsustainable and no longer able to cope with the challenges caused by climate change and consumer behaviours. In this context, agroecology, with its commitment to crossing disciplinary boundaries, has been endorsed as one of the main approaches to the creation of a sustainable food system. Despite this, the integration of the social research on food has not been evident enough in agroecology as a discipline. To be sure, studies related to foodways, food traditions, and, more recently, food heritage have long been present, and have provided important insights into the social and cultural aspects of food. However, there appears to be little convergence between this body of research and the mainstream agroecology literature. This paper aims to address this disconnection between the sociocultural and environmental aspects of the food system, and to propose ways of moving forward. We argue that knowledge about food heritage can be a catalyst for the achievement of agroecology’s vision for whole-system transformative change, and a moving towards global food security and nutrition. Using the agroecology framework of the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and looking at the examples of the subak system in Indonesia and the EU-funded BigPicnic project, we employ the elements of ‘co-creation and sharing of knowledge’, ‘culture and food traditions’ and ‘human and social values’ as entry points for the creation of sustainable transitions of the food and agricultural systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Culture and Food Heritage in Promoting Sustainable Food Choices and Tackling Global Challenges)
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Review

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21 pages, 369 KiB  
Review
Recognising, Safeguarding, and Promoting Food Heritage: Challenges and Prospects for the Future of Sustainable Food Systems
by Dauro Mattia Zocchi, Michele Filippo Fontefrancesco, Paolo Corvo and Andrea Pieroni
Sustainability 2021, 13(17), 9510; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179510 - 24 Aug 2021
Cited by 24 | Viewed by 5930
Abstract
The safeguarding and promotion of food heritage are often considered as a possible way for achieving social and cultural sustainability objectives. This literature review investigates some of the dynamics underlying the heritagisation of food and explores the risks of this process. It focuses [...] Read more.
The safeguarding and promotion of food heritage are often considered as a possible way for achieving social and cultural sustainability objectives. This literature review investigates some of the dynamics underlying the heritagisation of food and explores the risks of this process. It focuses mainly on anthropological, geographical, and sociological publications. Overall, it aims to shed light on the strengths and limitations of food heritagisation regarding the improvement of the socio-cultural sustainability of the food system. The analysis highlights cross-cutting risks, namely the omission of tangible and intangible elements of the local food system, and the exclusion of key stakeholders from the recognition and institutionalisation of food heritage. The review highlights the strict interdependence between intangible and tangible elements during food heritagisation, and assesses how local and global interactions can activate and shape this process. It sheds light on the need to pay more attention to the factors, actors, and relationships underpinning the emergence and recognition of food and food-related elements as part of the local heritage. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Role of Culture and Food Heritage in Promoting Sustainable Food Choices and Tackling Global Challenges)
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