Cultivating Food Connections: The Toronto Food Strategy and Municipal Deliberation on Food

Abstract

This paper shares an exploratory case study of the development of the Toronto Food Strategy as an urban food strategy, through the lens of public health. It asks: what is a food strategy and how does it work? We will answer these questions through an analysis and discussion of the Food Strategy development process and attention to three key mechanisms: (1) framing or directing attention to the diverse policy instruments that deal with food, (2) brokering working relationships between diverse stakeholders and across existing governance arrangements, and (3) leveraging existing resources. We also distinguish the work of the Food Strategy from the role of food policy councils in how they cultivate deliberative spaces to catalyse policy change.

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the Toronto Food Strategy team and other senior staff at TPH who have contributed insights on municipal policy and planning. This paper was previously presented at the Association of European Schools of Planning 3rd Sustainable Food Planning Conference in Cardiff, Wales on 28 October 2011. We thank Kevin Morgan for his hosting of the session and to participants for their gracious and helpful feedback.