Hybrid food networks and sustainability transitions: Shared and contested values and practices in food relocalisation and resocialisation
Simona Zollet
Abstract
Abstract Processes of food relocalisation and resocialisation occurring within alternative food networks (AFNs) are seen as fundamental to fostering sustainability transitions in agro‐food systems. Criticism of the alternative‐conventional dualism typical of much AFN literature, however, has resulted in the emergence of the concept of hybrid food networks. This article looks at the Japanese context to critically engage with current debates on relocalisation, resocialisation and hybridity, particularly regarding the conditions under which they can serve as a means of transitioning towards more sustainable food systems. The study employs a qualitative approach to explore the interplay between the values and practices of small‐scale organic farmers with those of mainstream agro‐food actors operating in hybrid food spaces. The findings highlight two characteristics of hybrid contexts where actors characterised by different degrees of alternativeness ‘share space’ in the local food system: first, the tensions and contrasting meanings that emerge in the practice of food relocalisation and resocialisation; second, the way in which institutional efforts to relocalise food consumption co‐opt and dilute more radically transformative projects but at the same time can rapidly amplify incremental changes connected to the uptake of more sustainable practices.