Bridging Food Scarcity: Croatian Women's Responses to Consumer Capitalism

Abstract

AbstractThis study explores the livelihood strategies and food practices that Croatian women adopted during the post‐socialist era after two decades of economic and political reforms. I discuss how the decline of the nation's food production system and the emergence of neoliberal agricultural reforms impacted these household practices. I point out that the popularization of ready‐made foods led some women to choose self‐sufficient food practices, including foraging, while others embraced consumption patterns in line with the Europeanization of Croatian society. I suggest that these differences can be understood as particular responses to the declining food production industry and rising unemployment. They also reflect women's perceptions about the Europeanization of the Croatian consumer landscape and their lived experiences during socialism.