Materiality Of Food Research Articles

The food waste hierarchy as a framework for the management of food surplus and food waste

The unprecedented scale of food waste in global food supply chains is attracting increasing attention due to its environmental, social and economic impacts. Drawing on interviews with food waste specialists, this study construes the boundaries between food surplus and food waste, avoidable and unavoidable food waste, and between waste prevention and waste management. This study suggests that the first step towards a more sustainable resolution of the food waste issue is to adopt a sustainable production and consumption approach and tackle food surplus and waste throughout the global food supply chain. The authors examine the factors that give rise to food waste throughout the food supply chain, and propose a framework to identify and prioritize the most appropriate options for prevention and management of food waste. The proposed framework interprets and applies the waste hierarchy in the context of food waste. It considers the three dimensions of sustainability (environmental, economic, and social), offering a more holistic approach in addressing food waste. Additionally, it considers the materiality and temporality of food. The food waste hierarchy posits that prevention, through minimization of food surplus and avoidable food waste, is the most attractive option. The second most attractive option involves the distribution of food surplus to groups affected by food poverty, followed by the option of converting food waste to animal feed. Although the proposed food waste hierarchy requires a fundamental re-think of the current practices and systems in place, it has the potential to deliver substantial environmental, social and economic benefits.

The Power of Fake Food: Plastic Food Models as Tastemakers in South Korea

The Power of Fake Food: Plastic Food Models as Tastemakers in South Korea

Love Food: Exchange and Sustenance in the Cook Islands Diaspora

This paper analyses the dynamics of food exchange among Cook Islanders. The majority of Cook Islanders live abroad (primarily in New Zealand and Australia), familial and community relationships are maintained by frequent visits to and from the Cook Islands. For many Cook Islanders, the difference between home and abroad is signified through food. Its lack in New Zealand is contrasted with the bounty of home, bounty of food, and the bounty of sustaining caring relationships. As a result, when Cook Islanders from home visit family abroad, they take large quantities of local food with them. This paper explores the affective materiality of food that travels between Cook Islands