ABSTRACT
This chapter describes knowledge dynamics and localisation of food in a post-socialist setting in the former German Democratic Republic (GDR). It presents a case study of an emerging local organic farming network in the northeast of Germany. Some of the issues are typical of a number of post-socialist ruralities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The term local food production is ambiguous. Clearly all food is produced locally. In the rural sociology literature, the terms local food production is used in reference to the effort to relocalise and to resocialise food production and consumption. One significant obstacle to establishing a local food system is the absence of local knowledge and local identities. But not withstanding this handicap a number of local food networks succeeded in emerging from the remnants of former, or recently-formed, food clusters, incorporating new actors and inventing new local products.
