What can a focus on “food projects” in Europe tell us about contemporary social processes and cultural debates? Valeria Siniscalchi and Krista Harper show how food becomes a marker of identity and resistance to social exclusion, and how food values become tools for transforming power dynamics at the local level and beyond. Through the comparison of food-centered movements across Europe, the book explains how these forms of mobilization express ideologies as well as economic and political objectives. The chapters use an ethnographic approach to focus on the transformation of values carried by individuals and groups in relation to food in Portugal, Greece, Latvia, Moldova, Denmark, the UK, Italy, and France. Contributors analyze food values, as expressed in daily life and livelihoods, through specific practices of production, exchange, and consumption. Topics covered include Prague’s urban agricultural scene, the perception of poverty in Moldova, shepherds’ protests in Sardinia, and organic food cooperatives in Catalonia.

Table of Contents:
List of images Preface and Acknowledgments Foreword - Carole Counihan, Millersville University, USA Chapter 1: Value and Values in Food Projects in Europe, Krista Harper, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA and Valeria Siniscalchi, EHESS - Centre Norbert Elias, France Part I: Prosuming Values Chapter 2: Between Sabor, Saber, and the Market: Food Values and Activism in a Lisbon Urban Garden, Krista Harper, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA and Ana Isabel Afonso, NOVA FCSH, New University of Lisbon, Portugal Chapter 3: Growing Together: Conspicuous Production and Quality Produce in Czech Community Gardens, Cary Speck, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA Chapter 4: Subsistence Farming in Styria, Elisabeth Kosnik, University of Graz, Austria Part II: Calculating Values Chapter 5: The Moral Price of Milk: Food Values and the Intersection of Moralities and Economies in Dairy Family Farms in Galicia, Bibiana Martínez, University of Barcelona, Spain Chapter 6: From Milk Price to Milk Value: Sardinian Sheep Herders Facing Neoliberal Restructuring, Filippo M. Zerilli, University of Cagliari, Italy and Marco Pitzalis, University of Cagliari, Italy Chapter 7: "Small Farms, Better Food: Valuing Local Agri-Food Systems in Europe. From the European Peasants Coordination to the Nyéléni European Forum for Food Sovereignty, Delphine Thivet, Bordeaux University, France Part III: Connecting Values Chapter 8: Solidarity, Calculation and Economic Proximity inside the "Vegetable Baskets" System in the South of France,Valeria Siniscalchi, EHESS - Centre Norbert Elias, France Chapter 9: Within and Beyond the Market System. Organic Food Cooperatives in Catalonia, Patricia Homs, University of Barcelona, Spain and Susana Narotzky, University of Barcelona, Spain Chapter 10: 70% Zapatista?: Solidarity “Ecosystems” and the Troubles of Valuing Labor in Food Cooperatives, Theodoros Rakopoulos, University of Oslo, Norway Part IV: Consuming values Chapter 11: Fairness is Elsewhere: "Training" Fair Trade in Post-socialist Contexts, Guntra Aistara, Central European University in Budapest, Hungary Chapter 12: The Changing Value of Food: Calculating Moldova’s Poverty, Jennifer Cash, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Germany Chapter 13: Food Values Among African Caribbean Migrants in England, Dana Conzo, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA Chapter 14: Debating Halal in Contemporary Denmark, Johan Fischer, Roskilde University, Denmark Chapter 15: Concluding Comments: The Essential Ambiguity of the Value of Food, Richard Wilk, Indiana University, USA Index