Food at the nexus of bioethics and biopolitics

Food has become an area of fascination and concern in Western consumer societies. Craft beer, organic coffee, free-range meats, artisanal markets, community gardens, and the rise in food media are all expressions of this fascination. These aesthetic interests are mirrored by concerns over nutritional value, genetic modification, obesity, food deserts, and the sustainability of industrial agriculture. These trends have co-evolved and reinforce one another. The belief that industrial agriculture and chain supermarkets produce food that undermines human and environmental health contributes to the belief that organic agriculture and farmers’ markets will enhance human health and the environment. These beliefs and practices have produced a wide literature including journalistic investigations in mainstream newspapers, activist polemics, and academic research. Although each varies according to genre, most of these accounts celebrate alternative food practices and warn against the status quo of industrial agriculture. Much of this discourse appeals to a notion of ethical food practices.