Food For All? Opportunities and limitations of alternative food networks along the path to an inclusive and equitable urban food transformation

The question of what an equitable and inclusive food system ought to consist of is perhaps one of the greatest social and environmental challenges that our society currently faces. The very issue of food not only raises practical questions, such as affordability or access to food, but also poses the need for critical and ethical reflections. Cities act as important transitional spaces, thereby creating new opportunities to rethink and reshape current food systems. And yet, local governments have not managed to banish the spectre of hunger from their streets. This thesis is situated at the intersection of different normative ideas on how to best feed the world and at the intersection of different strategies used by alternative food-related organisations on how to deal with this challenge. It addresses the complexity of urban food transformation by taking the perspectives of alternative food networks through interviews and raising the question as to what opportunities and limitations arise for alternative food networks when seeking an inclusive and equitable food transformation. The analysis of the interview data indicated that the organisations, regarding objectives and implementation processes, either (i) fall under the logic of food security, i.e., ensuring access to affordable food, or (ii) follow the logic of food sovereignty, i.e., the fundamental right to healthy and culturally appropriate food. Addressing the transformative and inclusive capacities of the two types of organisations, the data revealed that food sovereignty organisations have an ambiguous potential to be both inclusive and exclusive but hold the potential on transforming the urban food system. Organisations dealing with food security issues have been found to be inclusive, as they support marginalised people but with food aid practices contribute little in transforming the food system.