Archives

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  The Ten-Year Anniversary Issue

  Vol. 11 No. 2 (2024)

  This year we celebrate a decade of Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l’alimentation (CFS/RCÉA), having published our first issue in May 2014. The management team thus takes a moment—in the space on an editorial—to look back across the history of the journal and toward its future. They collectively reflect on the journal’s ethos, its range of publications, as well as its continued efforts to promote rigorous scholarship done differently.

  From the state of the journal to the state of the field, Chartrand et al. offer us an exploration of food studies—begun during a plenary session at the eighteenth annual assembly of the Canadian Association for Food Studies (CAFS)—as a broth that can only be enriched (not spoiled as the old adage would have it) by many participants bringing diverse ingredients.

  This issue is its own enriched broth. Keira Loukes uses a decolonial feminist lens within a political ecology community of practice to think through Indigenous food sovereignty in Treaty 9 territory (Northern Ontario). Overend et al. consider the unexpected lessons—unlearning and re-learning and being uncertain—that came out of a collaborative research project on urban berry foraging with their home institution’s Indigenous Learning Centre. Braun et al. explore how professionally and managerially employed women in agriculture in the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta negotiate farm femininity—this in an industry characterized by rural hegemonic masculinity. Li et al. offer up a review of food asset maps in Canada and find in them a marked tendency to reinforce the values of a settler-colonial food system. Pentz et al. set out to identify and classify the various explanations given for food price changes in Canada, and to evaluate the scientific rigor of these explanations. Song-Nichols takes us through a method for historical menu analysis. These documents, he writes, can be read as maps, giving shape to those who author them and those who read from them (and doodle on them, as the case may be).

  On the heels of the Federal Government’s funding commitment toward a national school food program, we offer up two responses in the form of a commentary and a research article. Zhang et al. recognize the timeliness of this commitment amidst rising food costs and chronic disease. Niimi-Burch et al. turn their attention to mothers who, at present, remain primarily responsible for packing school lunches. Bloomfield provides a review of Dana James and Evan Bowness’ book, Growing and Eating Sustainably: Agroecology in Action, and we conclude the issue with our latest installment of the Choux Questionnaire. Take a look to find out what kinds of gardens make Greg de St. Maurice happiest, and what it is about composting that he dislikes.

  Our cover image is of red currants, grown and purchased in Southwestern Ontario. Like this issue, they are sweet and tart and toothy, too.

  Photo by Alexia Moyer

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  Introducing meat studies

  Vol. 11 No. 1 (2024)

  A growing, though still loosely connected, body of academic work has started placing meat at the centre of critical discourses regarding climate change and environmental sustainability, human health, economic wellbeing, food futures, and animal and ecological ethics. This special themed issue seeks to bring these multi-disciplinary scholars into direct conversation with one another under the umbrella of ‘Meat Studies’ as an emerging sub-field of study. Indeed, the recent establishment of Vegan Studies necessitates a parallel effort to better understand meat’s persistent social, economic, political, and cultural status in human societies. By situating meat at the centre of critical analysis, we identify, articulate, and address the challenges that meat poses in the twenty-first century. More generally, Meat Studies allows us to critically re-examine our cultural conventions regarding the ways in which we classify different foods, diets, identities, and culinary practices.

  Guest editors Ryan J. Phillips and Elisabeth Abergel

  The articles outside of the themed section are firmly focused on and around the classroom. Amberley Ruetz and Jane Poppendieck look to the United States for lessons on the design and implementation of a national school food program. Dian Day examines children’s fiction from elementary school curricula and interrogates their assumptions about children, poverty, food, and hunger. Sarah Clement et al. examine the whys and wherefores of developing a community food hub at UBC-Victoria that moves beyond emergency food relief services to address food insecurity with a more dignified, holistic, systemic, and justice-oriented approach. Andrea Bombak et al. explore how food pedagogies in Canadian university classrooms are prioritizing inclusion, diversity, and sustainable, resilient communities. Stefanie Foster offers us a review of Annika Lusis's contemporary art piece, Distasteful: Sexual Harassment in the Restaurant Industry, while Jennifer Sumner reviews Chris van Tulleken’s Ultra-Processed People: Why We Can’t Stop Eating Food that isn’t Food.

  And finally, we close this issue with a third installment of the Choux Questionnaire, featuring… ChatGPT.

  burger icon created by Freepik - Flaticon

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  A window, a mountain, a scape

  Vol. 10 No. 3 (2023)

  This season, we welcome three new editors to our collective. They are L. Sasha Gora, Laurence Godin and Yukari Seko. Titles and affiliations are one, perfunctory, way to know an editor. But perhaps we might prolong the introductions somewhat. We open this issue with a word from Sasha, whose description of her new office quarters at the University of Augsburg has us thinking about what lies outside our own windows (and how these views can inform our work).

  The articles in this issue are, in large part, centered on COVID-19. They lead us through the impact of the pandemic on food security in Black identifying households (Mori and Onyango), on a major node in North America’s produce supply chains, the Ontario Food Terminal (Elton et al.), and on the challenges of collaboration within Edmonton's City Table on Household Food Insecurity (Ferdinands et al.).

  On a different tack, Ronaldo Tavares de Souza et al. explores how terroir is taken up by agri-food and tourism in Québec, in an effort to promote gastronomic destinations. And lastly, Michael Robidoux presents the collaborative efforts between Moose Cree First Nation Band Council leadership, community members, and his Indigenous Health Research Group in support of the building and planting of family-centered gardens.

  Three book reviews follow on such diverse offerings as Chocolate and Spanish literature, Migrant work in Canada and Canadian Literary Fare. And we close this issue with a second installment of the Choux Questionnaire with Genevieve Sicotte, professor of literature in the Department of Études françaises at Concordia University. Bonne lecture.

  (Photo by David Szanto)

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  Transition, coherence, resilience and joy

  Vol. 10 No. 2 (2023)

  These four nouns are taken out of the article titles on offer in this issue. Uncover within the systemic transitions taking place, the coherence required, the resilience that has emerged, and the joy that may be found in food production, distribution, and consumption.

  With this issue comes the inaugural installment of a new series called the Canadian Food Studies Choux Questionnaire. A riff on the Proust Questionnaire, we skirt the obvious food-related point of entry, the madeleine. We are interested in more than just the remembrance of things past. The lighter, more versatile choux bun is the receptacle for everything from crème pâtissière to tuna, from food fears to greatest edible achievements. Food philosopher Lisa Heldke is our first respondent.

  And because we have been feeling particularly inquisitive of late, we have asked our contributing authors to tell us about themselves. It’s biography by way of lunch menus and food literature.

   

  Cover Image: "Chinese Croquembouche" (2023) © Annika Walsh

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  Confronting Anti-Black, Anti-Indigenous, and Anti-Asian Racisms in Food Systems in Canada

  Vol. 10 No. 1 (2023)

  The impetus for this themed section came out of the broader reckoning that touched off in the summer of 2020 in the wake of the murder of George Floyd. The Canadian Association for Food Studies board, like so many organizations struggling to respond to such brazen violence, released a statement on racialized police violence and systemic racism. In the statement the CAFS board commits to more deliberately centering the work of anti-racism in our association—and this included two shorter-term projects. Curating and publishing an open access resource list on food and racism in so-called Canada, and publishing the current themed section of CFS on racism in the food system.

  guest editor: Leticia Ama Deawuo; collaborative assistant: Michael Classens

  This issue also contains a Perspective on the complex realities of food in federal prison, Original Research Articles on such topics as diverse as traditional food access in Mi'kma'ki (Nova Scotia), a sugar-sweetened beverage tax in Manitoba, dietary messaging in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, and understandings of what it means to be a “good farmer” producing “good food” for communities. Not to mention a Book Review of Rick Blom's Hunger: How food shaped the course of the First World War, and a film review of Suzanne Crocker's First we eat: Food sovereignty north of 60. 

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  Momentum is building for a school food program for Canada

  Vol. 9 No. 3 (2022)

  This issue does not contain a themed section. And yet, one has emerged over the editorial and production process. Youth, food and education - and the various sectors and players engaged in modeling that relationship - are the focus of several research articles. Part of this conversation is the sense of momentum for a national school food program that both Debbie Field of the Coalition for Healthy School Food and Carolyn Webb of Sustain Ontario Education Network observe and unpack for us in their editorial. 

  And there is more besides. Joyce Slater et al. examine the impact of the first wave of COVID-19 on the Manitoba charitable food sector. Andre Magnan et al. investigate the implications of changing land tenure relations in the Prairie Provinces, where over 70% of Canada’s farmland is located. Food sovereignty activists Jessie MacInnis and Roz Corbett share a conversation with Annette Aurelie Desmarais about the good, the bad, and the ugly of COP26. And finally, Kathleen Kevany reviews Jessica Fanzo's Can fixing dinner fix the planet?

  Readers will note a few changes to the articles. These have been refreshed, if you will, with a new format. Each also contains abtracts in both French and English. We wish you a stylish and substantial read.  

   

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  Towards Just Food Futures: Divergent approaches and possibilities for collaboration across difference

  Vol. 9 No. 2 (2022)

  This issue includes a Themed Section that brings together some of the contributions to and reflections from a virtual three-day workshop held in May 2021, where the authors explored collaborative possibilities within, between, and beyond food movements.

  Graphic recorder and artist Lynne Dalgleish attended the final "affinity mapping" sessions of the workshop and produced the issue's cover illustration. It speaks to the tensions that defined discussions and that shape struggles for food justice more broadly: for example, tensions between basic needs and the need for structural transformation; between reformist and radical strategies; and between approaches focused on food systems and those targeting income, welfare, and labour policies. Finally, the illustration reminds us that "all the work we are doing is within the structure of white supremacy" and its intersecting systems of colonialism, capitalism, and heteropatriarchy.

  guest editors: Marit Rosol, Eric Holt-Giménez, Lauren Kepkiewicz, Elizabeth Vibert

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  Critical perspectives on food guidance

  Vol. 9 No. 1 (2022)

  Guest editors Jennifer Sumner and Ellen Desjardins, in collaboration with Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l’alimentation, are pleased to present Critical Food Guidance: a focal point for thinking about food system change.

  This themed section asks three basic questions: critical guidance for what, for whom, and by whom? While engaging with these questions, the authors have put forward critical concepts, proposed mindful decision-making, provided contexts for transformation, and presented innovative applications—all with the purpose of spurring broader thinking about food choices that can benefit both food system sustainability and human health.

  guest editors: Jennifer Sumner, Ellen Desjardins

  To this already extensive collection we add two Perspectives that set out to “seize this COVID moment” to address the structural inequalities Canadian society is built upon (Martha Stiegman) and to articulate the need for profound changes to the ways in which we produce, process, trade, and consume food (Marit Rosol and Christoph Rosol). Tina Moffat et al. then take us through accounts of two youth food programs operating at a Community Food Centre in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Janie Perron and Amanda Shankland round out this issue with their reviews of Diners, Dudes, and Diets: How Gender and Power Collide in Food Media and Culture by Emily J. H. Contois and Facing catastrophe? Food politics and the ecological crisis by Carl Boggs, respectively. (Photo by Danny Wick of DCW Fishing Sales, Vancouver Island).

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  Food pedagogies in Canada

  Vol. 8 No. 4 (2021)

  This themed issue engages with the pedagogical turn in food systems scholarship and asks simply, what is the state of (critical) food systems pedagogy in so-called Canada? The contributions (16 articles in total, including two perspective pieces, six field reports/narratives, and eight original research articles) reveal a diversity of perspectives and approaches to teaching and learning about food. The articles also evidence a lively and conceptually rich pedagogical milieu comprised of community members, students, faculty and staff. Readers of this collection will find valuable insights from the level of assignment interventions, to program curriculum development, and from community-campus partnerships to arts-based pedagogical techniques.

  guest editors: Michael Classens, Jennifer Sumner

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  The Imperative to Transform Global Food Systems

  Vol. 8 No. 3 (2021)

  This latest issue of Canadian Food Studies is full to bursting with seasonal – as in timely – fare.

  Philip Loring’s Editorial makes a strong case for radically reimagined food systems. In their Commentary, the CAFS board of directors collectively reflect on the past year and walk us through three areas of emphasis for the years ahead: racial justice and decolonization; (anti)austerity; and knowledge production and accessibility. The line of inquiry that connects the four research articles is that of the Canadian classroom. The authors explore such matters as food pedagogy, food security, school food programs and bento. Also on offer are Paul Manning’s Perspective on what can happen when fences are made to stand between white-tailed deer and community gardens, while Pineau et al. explore experiences of food insecurity, shame, stigma, and social exclusion among women in high-income countries. 145 pages of reading material, including two book reviews on the subjects of pork and factory farms and food justice and gentrification. We conclude the issue with a submission format that is new to the journal: an interview with a key thinker, actor, and/or practitioner in the field of food. For this inaugural interview we find ourselves in the best company to be had, with Wayne Roberts (1944–2021): food systems thinker, public intellectual, and “actionist.” (photo: Alexia Moyer)

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  FLEdGE (Food: Locally Embedded, Globally Engaged) Partnership

  Vol. 8 No. 2 (2021)

  The Food: Locally Embedded, Globally Engaged (FLEdGE) SSHRC-funded Partnership has deep roots in relationships developed over time among academics and community-based practitioners. FLEdGE emerged from community-driven research in Ontario on food hubs and community resilience dating from 2010. From there it expanded to include seven research nodes across Canada and three thematic international working groups, with over 90 researchers, students, and community partners involved in the project.

  This themed section's nine papers provide an opportunity to reflect on and question the Good Food Principles, the co-evolution of the food landscape in Canada and accompanying research. (Photo: Alexia Moyer).

  guest editor: Alison Blay-Palmer 

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  O is for open (as well as optimal, operable, optimistic, organic)

  Vol. 8 No. 1 (2021)

  Much as we might like to think of the academy as an enlightened domain of pure knowledge creation, it is inextricably linked to financial and corporate influences. The business of academic publishing is a complex ecosystem of actors, processes, expectations, and perversions. Many of us have encountered—indeed, reinforced—such entanglements. But when we start to unpack this system, it can present some pretty nefarious effects. Within the morass of issues, advocates for Open are trying to imagine another way of doing things. Open education and open educational resources (OER), open publishing, and open distribution are all part of the eco-system of open knowledge. (photo: Alexia Moyer)

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  A problematic of plenty

  Vol. 7 No. 2 (2020)

  The seeds from a Gete-Okosomin squash were gifted to me a few years ago by Audrey Logan, an Indigenous elder living in Winnipeg. Through a partnership with Roots to Harvest and the Indigenous Food Circle in Thunder Bay, they were grown out this summer and prepared with students from Matawa First Nation on an open fire with moose meat and wild rice. We are learning about and experiencing the way this incredible Gete-Okosomin squash weaves together stories of the sacred relationships between people and plants. Its history speaks to the devastation of colonialism but also of a powerful journey of resurgence. (photo: Charles Z Levkoe)

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  “Its smoke must make it blind” : Fire and a commitment to regeneration

  Vol. 7 No. 1 (2020)

  The COVID-19 pandemic has made visible some of the most problematic elements of modern society. People and communities that have been made most vulnerable throughout history are being impacted much more severally by the disease itself, but also by the impact of isolation, job losses and the additional mental and physical stress. The deaths of George Floyd, Tony McDade, David McAtee, Chantel Moore, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rodney Levi, among countless others, at the hands of police are (yet another) wake-up call to the ongoing systemic oppressions that are part of a living reality for Black, Indigenous and People of Colour. In Canada, there is a particularly nefarious history of Black and Indigenous people being disproportionately killed by police, incarcerated, and treated as second class citizens. The burning that is so apparent in this moment is not an explosion that incinerates everything in its path but a slow burn that has been in motion for hundreds of years and is only increasing in intensity. What we are seeing and experiencing today are the implications of capitalism, white supremacy, patriarchy and settler-colonial systems and structures that have been intentionally established to benefit those in power at the expense of the majority of the world’s population. (Photo: Alexia Moyer).

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  The social and informal economy of food

  Vol. 6 No. 3 (2019)

  While the “social economy” and “informal economy” have traditionally been regarded as separate areas of research, findings from a number of Canadian studies indicate significant overlap between the two. First, both share an emphasis on personal relationships, trust, and non-market values—which are inherently challenging to define, and often impossible to quantify. Second, both offer spaces for non-traditional forms of innovation as well as opportunities for deep insights into social relationships, cultural meanings, and environmental values. Most importantly, both challenge us to think of economic systems in far more complex ways than mainstream economic theory would propose. In this special issue, we offer a set of papers and field reports that detail the work of several community food initiatives, link our observations to broader bodies of literature in food studies and in social economy, and invite other researchers to engage in this discussion and collective efforts.

  guest editors: Irena Knezevic, Charles Z. Levkoe, Phil Mount, Connie Nelson

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  A medley of food research

  Vol. 6 No. 2 (2019)

  This issue showcases insights into culinary tourism and culinary school, consumption behaviour patterns, and agricultural/farm issues (farm safety and supply management). Two articles feature valuable perspective son food and food sovereignty from Métis grandmothers and Cree Elders. The emphasis on qualitative and investigative research illustrates a respect for studies that delve into deeper layers of understanding about food-related topics. The reviews recommend books that have documented examples of political-economic dominance in the food system and how this hegemony continues to influence the foods made available to us and even to the way many of us feel about food.

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  Special Issue: Food procurement

  Vol. 6 No. 1 (2019)

  Food procurement involves the acquisition of food, often through a tendering process, whether in the public, private, or third sector. Within the public sector, food procurement covers a range of institutions, such as schools, universities, hospitals, and prisons. In the private sector, large corporations such as Google purchase food for on-site cafeterias. And in the third sector, non-profit organizations such as FoodShare and The Stop buy food for meal programs and cooking classes. The leveraging capacity of procurement is supported by the fact that public-sector catering in a country like the UK represents seven percent of total food expenditure, with the National Health Service being the single largest purchaser of food. The history of public food procurement can be seen as “a story of untapped potential.” Private and third-sector procurement share this potential to unleash what has been termed “the power of the public plate.” The sheer volume of food purchased through food procurement programs carries enormous possibilities for the evolution of food systems. As Morgan and Morley (2014) observe, food procurement is a powerful instrument for creating social, economic, and environmental change.

  guest editors: Jennifer Sumner, Lori Stahlbrand

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  Special issue: Building an integrated Food Policy for Canada

  Vol. 5 No. 3 (2018)

  The effects of climate change, neoliberalization, corporate consolidation, declining access to healthy food and country food, and the overall lack of democratic accountability of the food system have left many to conclude that we are at a critical juncture for how food is produced, harvested, distributed, and consumed in Canada. While a Food Policy for Canada is only a first step towards achieving a more healthy, just and sustainable food system, it is an important one. We recognize that the upcoming policy will be just the beginning; many pressing questions remain about how the policy will be implemented and what mechanisms will be used to ensure its realization. There will be many perspectives and tensions within these discussions going forward. This special issue is intended to be a contribution to the crucial work ahead. (photo: Kath Clark/USC Canada)

  guest editors: Peter Andrée, Charles Z. Levkoe, Amanda Wilson

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  Special Issue: Focus on Indigenous Food

  Vol. 5 No. 2 (2018)

  Grassroots activism by individuals and organizations like Leesee Papatsie and Feeding My Family has brought national and international attention to the challenges facing many Indigenous communities in regards to the high cost of food in the Far North. While extremely important, the current struggles faced by Inuit communities in northern Canada are only one piece of the story. The histories of Indigenous foodways and practices are vast and traverse multiple geographies and spaces (urban and rural, northern and southern, land and water, etc.) Indigenous foodways include diverse worldviews and epistemologies; incorporate different land management activities/strategies; feature the many patterns and practices of survivance, resistance, and resurgence; combine Indigenous and Western food systems and practices; and encompass the imposition of colonial and corporate policy and governmentality. (image: En’owkin Centre Breastfeeding Art Expo)

  guest editors: Kelly Skinner, Tabitha Robin Martens, Jaime Cidro, Kristin Burnett

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  Special Issue: A spotlight on feminist food studies

  Vol. 5 No. 1 (2018)

  The idea for this special issue emerged from the enthusiastic response to a day-long series of sessions on feminist food studies that were held during the joint conference of the Canadian Association of Food Studies, the Association for the Study of Food and Society, and the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society, in 2016, in Scarborough, Ontario. The sessions brought together feminist food scholars from across Canada and the U.S. to share their work and to collectively claim space within the conference program to address feminist perspectives in food studies. For the many presenters and attendees at the sessions, the opportunity to gather together and savour more than the usual one or two conference sessions devoted to feminist perspectives was a long-awaited pleasure that did not disappoint. The presenters and audience members illuminated many of the issues, complexities, and perspectives that an explicitly feminist lens brings to food studies. The energy and excitement that infused the room as each presenter shared their work filled our plates that day. Yet there are many more ways that feminist food studies can and should continue to grow. (photo: Erik De Leon; visual effects: Natalie Doonan)

  guest editors: Jennifer Brady, Barbara Parker, Susan Belyea, Elaine Power

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  Opportunities and spaces for change

  Vol. 4 No. 2 (2017)

  The contributions to this issue of Canadian Food Studies manifest a keen insight: with different media, methods, and voices, we continue to reimagine spaces for food—where and how we consume and grow food, and how we position it in an increasingly democratic, commensal domain. The more food plays a central role in various spaces, the more opportunities arise for multiple transformations in other aspects of human interaction. How better to represent a food space than through the voices of eaters? The 10-minute soundtrack in the audiovisual work by Mélanie Binette features several francophone regulars at Le Chic Resto Pop, expressing how this affordable restaurant in their low-income Montreal community has affected their lives. When they don headphones and listen to a half-hour recording of other patron’s stories, it encourages them to make contact with others and reduce their isolation. (photo: Patrick Ma. “Invisible Guests.” a participant listens to a sound installation at Le Chic Resto Pop.)

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  Changing food status and perception

  Vol. 4 No. 1 (2017)

  In this issue we present several original research articles that offer critical, in-depth analyses of evolving practices in various “alternative” food settings, coupled with perceptions among farmers, retailers, and consumers about their roles and choices in this ever-changing milieu. It becomes clear, from this collective research—derived from the voices of producers, sellers and eaters in longitudinal studies—that the meanings of food can be transformed, and that these meanings can in turn transform food operations, networks, and even identities. Sabrina Doyon’s study, for example, illustrates this perfectly: over time, the common eel and sturgeon fish caught in the St. Lawrence River estuary have become in-demand status food, leading to efforts to certify it as a PGI (protected geographical indication). She asks the critical questions: Would this type of certification, applied to local fish, help build its image as alternative? Would it contribute to an alternative distribution network? (photo: David Szanto)

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  Forming and Informing Transformation

  Vol. 3 No. 2 (2016)

  A common thread weaves throughout the articles in this issue: one of transformative change—either already in progress or still needed—among individuals, communities, and food systems. The theme extends to an experimental book-review format introduced by associate editor Phil Mount, in response to the dilemma of reviewing edited volumes that are by nature heterogeneous in content. The solution: a composite in which every chapter is individually reviewed. This issue thus contains 15 chapter reviews for Cities and Agriculture: Developing Resilient Urban Food Systems (by Henk de Zeeuw & Pay Drechsel) and 17 mini-reviews for each of the chapters in How Canadians Communicate VI: Food Promotion, Consumption, and Controversy (by Charlene Elliott). Such lengthy reviews do require extra effort, but, as Mount points out, it can be a satisfying collective project resulting in greater depth of analysis—and certainly a greater sense, for the reader, of what an edited book offers. (photo: David Szanto)

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  Data, discourse, and divergence

  Vol. 3 No. 1 (2016)

  This issue takes us across the country, highlighting particular communities where food-related transformation is happening, encouraging us to think differently about technology and subjectivity. Notably, the methods used by several authors involve critically dissecting language—whether that be the discourse or terminology used by food systems change-makers or by people who are themselves affected by food system change. Often, the ordinariness of familiar terms or concepts belies their complexity and hidden sides, necessitating closer scrutiny. “Big data” is one such phenomenon, upon which Kelly Bronson and Irena Knezevic shine a critical spotlight. Showing how current data sources and data collection technologies differ from those of the past, the authors make the case that current big data are more than neutral numbers, but benefit productivist food regimes. (photo: David Szanto)

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  Special Issue: Mapping the Global Food Landscape

  Vol. 2 No. 2 (2015)

  The global food landscape is changing rapidly. In 2007–08, food prices soared and remained volatile in the following years, effectively leading to a world food crisis that drove tens of millions of people into poverty and hunger. A phenomenal increase in large-scale farmland acquisitions in developing countries by a range of investors is leaving land rights in question for many small-scale producers while land grabbing is also occurring in the global North. There is also growing corporate concentration in the international food industry, from agricultural input firms to trading firms to production and processing and food retail. A changing global climate with associated unpredictable weather and crop yields complicates this picture, as does a steady increase in the application of agricultural biotechnology worldwide. To counter these global forces, communities around the world are imagining and building alternative locally based and interconnected food systems grounded in the idea of food sovereignty to ensure food security, ecological sustainability and social justice. (photo: David Szanto)

  guest editors: Jennifer Clapp, Annette Desmarais, Matias Margulis

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  Knowing and Growing

  Vol. 2 No. 1 (2015)

  What do we mean by "food studies"? Is it a distinct field or not, and what might it encompass? This issue starts, poignantly, with a commentary that summarizes some intense deliberations on these questions at the 2014 meeting of the Canadian Association for Food Studies. The authors conclude by suggesting that “food studies scholars and practitioners...traverse not just disciplinary boundaries, but epistemological boundaries.” This entails more than different methodologies, as they point out, but may open up a broader typological range of research questions, examine how food can serve as a catalyst for exploring new issues, and expand the possibilities of where, or to whom, researchers can turn as a source of learning. (photo: David Szanto)

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  Book Reviews (and an event review!)

  Vol. 1 No. 2 (2014)

  In response to a flurry of new books (and an art exhibition!) about food and food systems, this issue is entirely composed of reviews: Food Will Win the War: The Politics, Culture, and Science of Food on Canada’s Home Front (Ian Mosby); The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food (Dan Barber); Alternative Trade – Legacies for the Future (Gavin Fridell); The Politics of the Pantry: Stories, food and social change (Michael Mikulak); Farmageddon: The True Cost of Cheap Meat (Philip Lymbery & Isabel Oakeshott); Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation, and the Loss of Aboriginal Life (James Daschuk); The Ecological Hoofprint: The Global Burden of Industrial Agriculture (Tony Weis); and Hedonistika Montreal (Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art). (photo: Philippe Jasmin)

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  Début

  Vol. 1 No. 1 (2014)

  This inaugural issue of Canadian Food Studies exemplifies the range of publishing categories that we aim to support over the years to come. We hope to encourage writers, researchers, community members, and food practitioners to use the voice that most comfortably expresses the essence of their work. A mix of ‘languages’—whether first person narrative, conventional academic, audio/visual, or other forms of expression—allows and encourages boundaries to be challenged. In the world of food studies, diversity is key. Stories must be told, geographical areas compared, injustices exposed, and successes lauded. Meanings and insights derive from robust analysis, constructive critique, and context that includes historical, philosophical, social, political, economic, and cultural perspectives. Welcome to our début! (photo: David Szanto)