Engaging with the sociocultural complexity of food in Australia's contemporary food culture: A case study of an ACT farmers' market

Abstract

The globalisation, industrialisation and commoditisation of Australia’s mainstream food system over the last fifty years has had a detrimental impact on Australia’s environmental and population health. The failure of this system suggests the need for an alternative, but the dominance of this system means that any alternative would require a significant cultural shift towards a more integrative approach to food. Changes to consumption are central to such a shift, particularly in how people engage with the sociocultural complexity of food. There is a considerable body of literature on how farmers’ markets fit within, yet provide an alternative, to this system. This thesis contributes to this literature by examining the role of farmers’ markets in improving engagement with the sociocultural complexity of food within Australia’s contemporary food culture. This examination was conducted through a qualitative case study of the Capital Region Farmers’ Market (CRFM) in Canberra, ACT involving semi-structured interviews with key stakeholder groups – eaters, producers and organisers. Through an analysis of these interviews, this thesis found that within this vanguard demographic there are precursor conditions for a cultural shift in Australia’s contemporary food system and culture. The initial precursor condition was how farmers’ markets encourage eaters to engage in positive food routines in their everyday life, namely enjoying sharing meals, enjoying food shopping and understanding the complexities of eating. The other precursor condition was how farmers’ markets challenge the efficiency narrative of the contemporary mainstream food system by fostering the importance of eating and production values other than price and convenience. Eating values relating to food quality and the social value of food were more important than the production values of connection to land and production, economic support for producers and sustainable production methods. These findings add to our understanding of the values that are fostered in farmers’ markets. However, for a cultural shift to occur, there needs to be mainstream change. The results relating to positive food routines suggest that this concept could be an initial step for improving engagement with the sociocultural complexity of food, which crosses demographic boundaries, and therefore has implications for further research in this field. Show more