Direct food provisioning: collective food procurement

Abstract

Direct food provisioning indicates any way of procuring food that does not conform to the ‘norm’ of individuals shopping in supermarkets, whereby consumers are placed at the receiving end of a long, complex, global food chain. This norm is not at all ‘normal’, since it is neither long-established nor sustainable. There are many ways of practising direct food provisioning, including traditional subsistence farming all over the world. Consequently, this chapter challenges the idea that direct food provisioning should be considered per se ‘alternative’ or ‘radical’. Procuring food is a multifaceted social phenomenon that has accompanied the history of the human species and the differentiation of its cultures. In particular, collective food procurement allows reflection on the consequences of globalized food systems vis-à-vis direct food provisioning.