Stefan Wahlen

“Foodsharing”: Reflecting on individualized collective action in a collaborative consumption community organisation

Food waste is increasingly seen as a social problem. The “foodsharing” collaborative consumption initiative is an attempt to mitigate this societal challenge. This chapter investigates the community structure and consumer culture associated with “foodsharing”. As a collaborative consumption movement, food consumption is politicized in the “foodsharing” movement. With a growing community, the “foodsharing” community in Berlin (Germany) faced a conflict with the executive branch of consumer policy, the local food authorities. This chapter is in general interested in how the “foodsharing” community is set up and how the community organisation is combined with particular consumer identities. The chapter further investigates how politicization and a conflict with local food authorities lead to consumer activism against consumer policy. The chapter concludes with a theoretical reflection on collaborative consumption movements, highlighting how the boundaries between individual and collective action are continuously blurred and what consumer policy can learn from this contemporary empirical example.

Household Food Waste

Food waste is debated not only in the light of sustainable consumption in research and policy, but also in the broader public. This article focuses on food waste in household contexts, what is widely believed the end of the food chain. However, household food waste is far more complex and intricate than one might believe. We outline distinct features of food waste on the level of the individual consumer and along processes in the household, from food provision to storing and preparing meals and finally eating and disposing of food. Alongside, important features of household food waste relate to more structural aspects in frameworks and regulations of consumer policy. This more structural perspective is also reflected in broader food cultures in terms of norms and moralities, as well as in associated discourses.

How convenient!? Adolescents’ vistas on food competences in a convenience context

Purpose Adolescents are at a stage in their life course in which they increasingly become choosers, buyers and preparers of food. Hence, they develop and employ required competences. Current food-related competences of adolescents are shaped in an environment with an abundance of convenience foods. Simultaneously food education has been limited in many western countries. The purpose of this paper is to scrutinize how young practitioners engage with the notion of convenience in a context with a strong presence of convenience foods. Design/methodology/approach Empirical data for this paper have been collected in a Dutch high school context following a participatory approach in focus group discussions. Data have been gathered from different food-related exercises within a classroom context. Findings The findings indicate that adolescents’ food competences and meanings are heavily shaped by the abundant presence of convenience foods. Adolescents perceive a nuanced picture of a skilful consumer that incorporates convenience foods in ways that minimize time efforts, preserves some preparatory tasks for fun cooking and has knowledge about health effects of fatty and salty foods. Originality/value The investigation takes a novel look on convenience food consumption from a practice perspective scrutinizing competences through the lens of adolescent practitioners. The authors make a plea for tapping into the potential of research on children and adolescents as novice performers of practices to understand how practices are shaped and changed and how practices recruit new practitioners.

Contemporary Collaborative Consumption : An Introduction

The recent decade has seen unprecedented societal challenges. Since the beginning of the economic and social crisis in the global North a decade ago, consumers have started rethinking their everyday lives. Consumers have not only become more mindful in their spending habits, but also more ingenious in living on a limited budget.