Narratives of Change: Bridging Food Security, Sustainability, and Justice in the Context of the European Green Deal

This paper presents a cross-case exploration of the relationship between food security, sustainability, and social justice within the framework of the European Green Deal's Farm to Fork strategy. Drawing on fifty narratives in urban and peri-urban areas of five European countries (Austria, Greece, Portugal, Sweden, Turkey), the study explores links between challenges and opportunities faced by individuals to access healthy and environmentally sustainable food and different forms of economic and social marginalisation. In doing so, we apply a multiscale approach (time and space) to analyse the interconnectedness between individuals and communities with local, national, and global policies and movements in developing small food transitions into larger changes. Using a hybrid narrative methodology, we delve into the food system realities of individuals and their families, which are from low-income backgrounds, single mothers/parents, working parents with intersectional identities (e.g., LGBTQ, ethnic or religious minorities, migrant communities), disabled, and elderly people. The cross-case findings illustrate that across different combinations of demographic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds people are conscientious about global food movements and have intentions to change their food practices. Yet, at the individual scale, major social and economic injustices (relating to e.g. money, time, geography, information) are exacerbated by a set of structural, social, and political conditions, which impede the individuals from making the leap from intentions to food access and change. However, the analysis also unveils factors that at an intermediate scale seem essential to transform individuals as, or into, agents of change. Social support networks like neighbours, friends, and family, emerge as key enablers of change. Not only do they serve as supporters, but by fostering trust and transmitting diverse kinds of knowledge, social bonds at various levels emerge as crucial elements that shift mindsets and facilitate behaviour change. They seem to give access to the resources needed (e.g., food sharing, knowledge transfer, inspiration and motivation) for change that policies and politics sometimes fail to provide. The challenge is to tie in individuals, communities, and their self-organised actions with local, regional, and national policies that have the capacity of implementation. The analysis unveils factors that at this intermediate scale seem essential to accomplish such change and transform individuals as agents of change. Among them, the reform of supply chains, shared knowledge, and redefined social norms emerge as tools for change and as the very heart of building a sustainable food future. Therewith, in unravelling the diverse stories of struggle and transformation, our study describes how environmentally sustainable and healthy eating is not merely a personal choice, but a collective journey. The respective intricate network of levels and actors calls for a multiscale perspective of participation, agency and governance as analytical tool when studying rights-based policies and interventions.