The Food Citizenship report is the result of a ten month inquiry led by the New Citizenship Project with the Food Ethics Council, working with six organisations across the food system to explore a future ‘Citizen’ food system. It explores what could happen if the key players in the food system switched from a consumer to a citizen mindset, generating ideas and testing new approaches to food citizenship.
The authors propose the following:
- that the idea that people are best understood as consumers is pervasive throughout the food system, particularly in the language we use.
- ‘Consumer’ is not a neutral word or idea; it is proven to prime us into behaving with short term, self-interest over our more deeply held values.
- The more pervasive the idea of the consumer the more we accept and reinforce a narrow version of ourselves, driven by price and convenience alone.
- This trap is a root cause of many of the problems of the food system, limiting efforts to change it for the better.
To read the report and find ways to get involved (including a hack session for NGOs on how to influence the food citizenship agenda on 26th September 2017), please go to www.foodcitizenship.info or get in touch with FCRN member Dan Crossley via dan@foodethicscouncil.org
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