Food Regimes
Urban Food: Global Scale Food Regimes: Wheat & Meat Fruit & Vegetable
Wheat & Meat Regime C19th Europe industrialises, urbanizes European settlement abroad Settler colonies feed Europe market with C19th food and transportation technology Wheat & Meat regime
Wheat & Meat Regime North American railways, farming etc., devoted to Wheat & Meat regime Toronto, a rail hub becomes important as a grain port Shipping to the USA Sustaining brewing & distilling in Toronto
Gooderham & Worts Toronto s biggest industrial complex in the 1880s The largest distillery in the British Empire Owned a bank, two railroads Grains fed the distillery Slops fed massive animal feedlots
Wheat & Meat Regime Toronto, becomes a major centre for livestock trading, shipping, slaughtering and packing, leather making Serves the US market from 1860s Exports to Liverpool from 1870s Toronto becomes Hogtown
Wheat & Meat Regime Global food trade falls into the hands of four major food traders ADM Bunge Cargill Dreyfus
Wheat & Meat Regime Leaves quite a legacy in food culture Recipes involving beef, pork, bread still characteristic of the western diet
Green Revolution Agriculture in the Third World commercialises after 1945 Boost production with science & technology High yield crop varieties Artificial fertiliser, pesticides, machinery, agribusiness
Green Revolution Changes in transportation: Fast ships, continental refrigerated trucking, swift air cargo
A new Food Regime Western diet alters to include fresh tropical fruits and vegetables Distant places provide out-of-season fruits and vegetables year round Fruit & Vegetable Regime
Fruit & Vegetable Regime Connected to the rise of mass consumption, suburban supermarkets Refrigerators, freezers get large, universal Women abandon the canning season Urban food becomes very cheap
Fruit & Vegetable Regime Food trade becomes heavily corporatized, dominated by multinationals Most food trade in North America dominated by corporatized grocery-store food chains
Fruit & Vegetable Regime Food produced by corporate agribusiness sold to grocery-store food chains Unable to guarantee volume, small local producers get sidelined
Ontario Food Terminal Provincial initiative, created in 1950s In contrast to most N. American Cities, allows small producers to reach the urban market
Fruit & Vegetable Regime In North America food loses its sense of place, season Thanks to marketing, and logistics Regional varieties eliminated, food becomes blander
Fruit & Vegetable Regime Food industrialises from farm to plate Artificial pesticides, fertilisers, additives, antibiotics, preservatives Genetic selection and modification for ease of industrial production
Fruit & Vegetable Regime Suburban living, post-industrial lifestyle steadily weakens North American food culture People eat more processed and fast food Fewer family meals eaten at home Domestic cooking skills in rapid decline
Fruit & Vegetable Regime The key zones for the wheat & meat regime face decline Niagara fruit belt, Holland Marsh forced to compete with California, Chile, Costa Rica, China Local production damaged by cheap imports
Fruit & Vegetable Regime Predicated on unsustainable industrial methods of production and transportation Depends on cheap oil Depends on chemicals, land and water exploitation
Post-Industrial Economy Elite workers emerge in the creative side of the Post-Industrial economy Often choose to gentrify the inner city
Post-Industrial Economy Creative elites show dissatisfaction with industrial food regime Want to eat and drink local and artisanal Emergence of luxury farmers markets, artisanal breweries, bakeries to serve wellto-do gentrified postal codes
Max s Meats, Kensington Market
Dufferin Grove Farmer s Market
Post-Industrial Economy Has terminated the easy prosperity for industrial workers, living standards decline Major food retailers abandon low-income suburbs creating food deserts
Post-Industrial Economy Slow, partial, emergence of low-income urban food alternatives: Community gardening Urban food justice programmes, food banks In USA: cheap ethnic farmer s markets
Not Far From the Tree