ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book considers how people trade, process and purchase the food that people eat. It focuses on examples and evidence from throughout the world that indicate we are experiencing a global transformation in food supply and consumption that is placing our food security at risk. Cooper takes a robust stand on the notion of the environment as the key field of significance in food futures. He argues that the market disembodies and decontextualises relationships and commodities, yet all biological relations and food products have a home address, a biological point of origin and a material presence in a specific environment. The urge to create new food futures necessarily creates dilemmas and tensions as innovative practice seeks to carve out a place in the mainstream. The editors highlight where opportunities for broad collaboration may exist as well as where more decisive action to head off socially or environmentally risky choices is needed.
