ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the ‘alternative food economy’ constituted by the provisioning of ‘quality’ food products to what at present is a relatively narrow segment of consumers. Typically, though not exclusively, these are rich in economic and cultural capital, the ‘worried well’, as the phrase goes. In short, there is a strong class dimension to the social relations of consumption of the ‘organic’, the ‘local’, the ‘regional’, and the ‘alternative’ (Tregear 2005). The social positioning of these foods, seen through the prism of class, race and inequality, and the corollary of how to democratize access, should be kept in mind throughout the following discussion.
