Inspiring and informing through food studies

Authors

  • Ellen Desjardins Editor Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v3i1.156

Keywords:

big data, food charter

Abstract

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 Bronson and 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. They point to the need for research to document the consequences of big data to a broader group of food systems models. Another popular phenomenon is the “food charter”: dozens of such manifestos have materialized across Canada in the past decade, signifying positive, united visions for the food systems of cities and regions. Or is that just one side of the coin? Spoel and Derkatch analyse the food charter as a “genre”, examining their rhetoric and embedded ideologies. They suggest that charters perform not just by reflecting inherent values, but by aspiring to shape a food system in an uncontested way.

Author Biography

Ellen Desjardins, Editor Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation

Ellen has had a long career in public health nutrition and healthy food systems in Toronto and Waterloo. With a recent PhD in human geography, she is now a research associate at the University of Waterloo. Her past work included food-related policy and program development at the federal and provincial (Ontario) levels. Co-chairing the Waterloo Food Systems Roundtable, Ellen helped develop a food systems strategy, municipal food policies and a food charter for the Region. She was a founding member of Food Secure Canada and the Canadian Association for Food Studies. Ellen’s research centres on food and place, or how people experience and interact with their food environment.
close up image of a hexagonal matrix of brown gels

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Published

2016-04-04

How to Cite

Desjardins, E. (2016). Inspiring and informing through food studies. Canadian Food Studies La Revue Canadienne Des études Sur l’alimentation, 3(1), 1–3. https://doi.org/10.15353/cfs-rcea.v3i1.156

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2016): Data, discourse, and divergence

Section

Editorial

License

Copyright (c) 2016 Canadian Food Studies / La Revue canadienne des études sur l'alimentation

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