How alternative foods become affordable: The co-construction of economic value on a direct-to-customer market

Abstract

The imposition of premium prices is one of the most influential barriers to sustainable food consumption. Yet studies of alternative food networks and sustainable consumption have paid sparse attention to how and why some customers overcome the price barrier. This article addresses this issue, posing the question: How do alternative foods become affordable to the customers purchasing them? The article draws on an extensive qualitative dataset that shows how the participants – suppliers, administrators, and customers – in Swedish REKO-rings, a direct-to-customer food market arrangement, co-construct alternative foods as affordable to customers. The study uses the sociology of markets and valuation studies to analyse how these market participants enable some economic comparisons but disqualify others. The findings suggest that they co-construct a distinct economic practice for their customers, called ‘affordacity’. This practice treats liberal spending on alternative foods as the prudent use of money, while deeming spending on conventional foods as imprudent regardless of their prices. These findings complement existing scholarship on sustainable food consumption and alternative food networks.