Meanings of Local Food in Danish Print Media: From Marginal to Mainstream

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to find empirical evidence that can verify the seemingly new and growing interest in local food in Denmark, and shed light on what meanings the concept of local food holds in Danish print media. A content analysis of Danish print media is undertaken of articles reporting on local food over a 10-year period. A total of 993 articles are collected from national, region- al and local newspapers as well as trade journals and magazines. Incorporating print media as agents in the construction of meanings of local food is a relatively understudied field of research. The article finds six major themes, which are cen - tral to the understanding of local food in Danish print media, namely 'local food networks', 'food values', 'food system', 'food tourism', 'food events' and 'local food in supermarkets'. It concludes that there are important differences between print media sources; nationwide dailies portray national imaginaries, apart from local imaginaries portrayed in regional dailies and local weeklies. This said, local food cannot be understood without reference to the local scale. However, at the same time, both culinary globalization and culinary nationalism have resulted in the strong push for local food. Keeping with this, it is argued that the increasing interest in local food by mainstream supermarkets blurs the lines between the marginal and mainstream. Thus, local food can be understood both as flow and friction between dualisms of local-global and marginal-mainstream.