Running wild in the marketplace: the articulation and negotiation of an alternative food network

ABSTRACT

In this paper, we examine how actors within what we conceptualise as an emerging wild food alternative network are navigating through the foodscape to find alternatives to homogenous and standardised food products. Drawing on data from different research engagements with wild food consumers and producers over the last decade in Canada, we use the context of wild foods to explore how the ‘alternative’ is being articulated and negotiated. Inspired by scholarly work exploring the pedagogical promise of food, we also explore the transformational potential of the ‘alternative’ – how bringing wild foods to the table can both inspire and teach consumers about sustainability and alternative consumption practices. We conclude with directions for future marketing research on alternative food networks.

KEYWORDS:

• Alternative food networks
• wild food
• mainstreaming
• food pedagogies

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the many dedicated wild food foragers, producers and consumers who supported and contributed to the survey, focus groups and interviews. We also thank the staff and associates of the Centre for Livelihoods and Ecology at Royal Roads University (which closed in 2013), in particular Dr. Brian Belcher who has been instrumental in supporting research on consumer awareness and use of wild foods and other wild products.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. For example, the Vancouver Island Diet website, and the BC Food Systems network provide online links to an extensive range of food-related organisations that have a focus on local production and consumption.

2. Our thanks to a reviewer of this paper for making this suggestion to strengthen our understanding of the market.

3. The numbering refers to the focus group number (in this case number 2) and the individual in that focus group (in this case individual number 1).

4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6wymOlsIVg, accessed 22 September 2016

5. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWbkFO3d56o, accessed 15 August 2016

6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyTFbelQGxI, accessed 22 September 2016

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ingrid Kajzer Mitchell

Ingrid Kajzer Mitchell is an Associate Professor in Marketing at Royal Roads University. Ingrid holds a MSc and PhD from Strathclyde University. Her research areas include marketing’s impact on society, sustainability marketing, alternative consumption practices, and individual and organizational creativity as it relates to building more sustainable futures. Her research has been published in such journals as Business Strategy and the Environment, Journal of Change Management, Journal of Organisational Change Management, and Journal of Cleaner Production.

Will Low

Will Low holds a BA and MA from the University of British Columbia and a PhD from London School of Economics. Trained as an economist, he is currently Professor teaching sustainable business at Royal Roads University with a particular interest in sustainable consumption. He has taught at universities in Canada, the USA, the UK, Australia, Thailand and New Zealand. His recent research on the fair trade movement, with Eileen Davenport, has been published in Social Enterprise Journal and Critical Perspectives on International Business.

Eileen Davenport

Eileen Davenport holds a BA in Sociology (Exeter), and MA and MPhil degrees in Planning (Nottingham Trent). Currently she is an adjunct faculty member at Royal Roads University supervising internships in the School of Humanitarian Studies and the School of Business. Eileen chaired the Standards and Monitoring Committee of the International Fair Trade Association (IFAT) from 2004-2006 and was a member of the WFTO taskforce on the relationship between fair trade and the solidarity economy in 2013-15.

Tim Brigham

Tim Brigham holds an MA in Geography from Carleton University. He is currently a Learning and Development Advisor in Professional and Continuing Studies at Royal Roads University. Previously, Tim was a Coordinator in the Centre for Livelihoods and Ecology also at Royal Roads University. His work over the past 20 years has focused largely on the sustainable development of non-timber forest resources by rural communities across Canada and internationally.