ABSTRACT
Understanding sustainability transitions in food provision entails studying the (potential) changes in technologies, in political arrangements and in the role of key economic actors as well as in the shifting narratives on food and sustainability. In particular, the central roles consumers (or end-users) play in such system changes need full acknowledgement. This general claim is even more relevant today as the era of modernization dominated by technological efficiency and economic rationality is being replaced by a more reflexive phase where environmental and societal-political impacts as well as side-effects are increasingly taken into account. When studying transitions it is therefore essential to connect specific socio-technical innovations with the everyday lives of the human agents involved (Beckers & Spaargaren 2003). Paying attention to the roles of consumers in food transitions is in line with the overall shift taking place in food supply chains over the last fifty years from a focus on the primary producers, farmers and traders to one much more oriented towards the end-users, retailers and consumers (Lang & Heasman 2004).
