‘It’s not really about the food, it’s also about food’: urban collective action, the community economy and autonomous food systems at the Groningen Free Café
The Free Café is a citizen-driven collective in the city of Groningen, the Netherlands that serves a free meal biweekly, using food that would otherwise be thrown away. While principally attempting to create a space where financial pressures and social status are lifted, the group also works to rais...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2020-05-01
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| Series: | International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19463138.2019.1696804 |
| _version_ | 1797678203313061888 |
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| author | Ciska Ulug Elen-Maarja Trell |
| author_facet | Ciska Ulug Elen-Maarja Trell |
| author_sort | Ciska Ulug |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The Free Café is a citizen-driven collective in the city of Groningen, the Netherlands that serves a free meal biweekly, using food that would otherwise be thrown away. While principally attempting to create a space where financial pressures and social status are lifted, the group also works to raise awareness about the environmental and societal impacts of food. Using Gibson-Graham’s community economies (CE) lens to analyse the Free Café, this paper aims to understand how urban citizen collectives are organised and governed, to better facilitate local action in food initiatives. Through participant observation and in-depth interviews, this research focuses on the daily practices, interactions, organisation and challenges surrounding the Free Café, to draw lessons about urban collective action and CE. Though findings indicate internal conflicts and contradictions, through sharing its vision and opportunities, the café is found to be valuable to food-waste awareness-raising and experimentation towards sustainable post-capitalist societies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T22:56:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-128f5b39af464d2792138c31482620ab |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1946-3138 1946-3146 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T22:56:15Z |
| publishDate | 2020-05-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development |
| spelling | doaj.art-128f5b39af464d2792138c31482620ab2023-09-21T15:28:40ZengTaylor & Francis GroupInternational Journal of Urban Sustainable Development1946-31381946-31462020-05-0112212714210.1080/19463138.2019.16968041696804‘It’s not really about the food, it’s also about food’: urban collective action, the community economy and autonomous food systems at the Groningen Free CaféCiska Ulug0Elen-Maarja Trell1University of GroningenUniversity of GroningenThe Free Café is a citizen-driven collective in the city of Groningen, the Netherlands that serves a free meal biweekly, using food that would otherwise be thrown away. While principally attempting to create a space where financial pressures and social status are lifted, the group also works to raise awareness about the environmental and societal impacts of food. Using Gibson-Graham’s community economies (CE) lens to analyse the Free Café, this paper aims to understand how urban citizen collectives are organised and governed, to better facilitate local action in food initiatives. Through participant observation and in-depth interviews, this research focuses on the daily practices, interactions, organisation and challenges surrounding the Free Café, to draw lessons about urban collective action and CE. Though findings indicate internal conflicts and contradictions, through sharing its vision and opportunities, the café is found to be valuable to food-waste awareness-raising and experimentation towards sustainable post-capitalist societies.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19463138.2019.1696804community economy(urban) citizen collectivescollective actiondiverse economiesautonomous food systemsgroningenthe netherlands |
| spellingShingle | Ciska Ulug Elen-Maarja Trell ‘It’s not really about the food, it’s also about food’: urban collective action, the community economy and autonomous food systems at the Groningen Free Café International Journal of Urban Sustainable Development community economy (urban) citizen collectives collective action diverse economies autonomous food systems groningen the netherlands |
| title | ‘It’s not really about the food, it’s also about food’: urban collective action, the community economy and autonomous food systems at the Groningen Free Café |
| title_full | ‘It’s not really about the food, it’s also about food’: urban collective action, the community economy and autonomous food systems at the Groningen Free Café |
| title_fullStr | ‘It’s not really about the food, it’s also about food’: urban collective action, the community economy and autonomous food systems at the Groningen Free Café |
| title_full_unstemmed | ‘It’s not really about the food, it’s also about food’: urban collective action, the community economy and autonomous food systems at the Groningen Free Café |
| title_short | ‘It’s not really about the food, it’s also about food’: urban collective action, the community economy and autonomous food systems at the Groningen Free Café |
| title_sort | it s not really about the food it s also about food urban collective action the community economy and autonomous food systems at the groningen free cafe |
| topic | community economy (urban) citizen collectives collective action diverse economies autonomous food systems groningen the netherlands |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19463138.2019.1696804 |
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