Veggies and visceralities: A political ecology of food and feeling

Abstract

The ‘alternative food’ movement (encompassing both organic and local foods) has been critiqued for its racial and economic homogeneity, as well as its focus on individual choice and ‘correct’ knowledge. Nevertheless, the movement continues to gain in popularity within certain segments of the North American population (especially among white, middle class residents). In recent years, alternative food has also made its way into public schools – most notably through the guise of healthy eating. School Garden and Cooking Programs (SGCPs) are one way in which a more diverse demographic can become exposed to the claims, practices and tastes of alternative food. Program advocates claim that such exposure equalizes the student body, by giving all students access to healthy food. This paper examines this claim through a political ecology of the body (PEB) framework. Particularly, we use theories of the material, emotional body to explore how motivation to eat ‘healthy’ and ‘alternative’ food is a matter of affective relation, emerging differentially from a rhizome of structural and haphazard forces. By relating alternative food and healthy eating to research on emotion and affect, we expand upon the traditions of political ecology in ways that help to stretch the field into issues of bodies and health.