Community building for and through sustainable food

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Food is often present in practices of community development and community building. Here, it has often been approached as part of the experience of poverty or as the basis for community cohesion work. This chapter unfolds a different perspective: it is concerned with the role of food in community-building activities that aim at systemic changes in the food system. It focuses on discursive, socio-material and sensory aspects of food in the building of a more sustainable local and alternative food community. Focusing on the work of a group of young environmental activists from Zurich, Switzerland, the chapter shows that eating together can spark positive dynamics that can be harnessed for community building and lead to more empowered relationships with food. It recognises how prescriptions about what and how to eat, how to handle and how to talk about food become markers of social distinction and possibly discrimination. For more inclusive practices to develop, the chapter identifies that addressing hurtful food experiences such as lack of food or eating disorders is necessary. Furthermore, the inclusion and competences of marginalised groups in the politicisation of food and in activities of community-based food production becomes essential.