Towards a dignified food security? Discourses of dignity, development and culture in New York City and Bogotá

In light of a severe, changing and globally implicative New Food Equation marked perhaps above all else by the dynamics of a new, bimodal food insecurity and the simultaneous rising importance of cities, new approaches to address food security at urban scales suggest promise. But as such efforts are relatively new, the discourses and activities of urban actors are understood to only a limited extent. Moreover, while attention to food security per se is robust and growing, attention to the discursive and narrative dimensions that ultimately construct both the real nutritional achievements and the real experiential implications of such policy is not. In this research, I apply analytical methods informed by the interpretive, critical and ethnographic traditions to understand (some of) the cultural, ideological and philosophical particularities of these new dynamics and contexts, examining the cases of two large cities in the North and South, New York City and Bogotá. Tandem to the empirical work, I explore the philosophical tenets that ground food security efforts in the two studied cities and more generally, and I finally settle upon the purposefully normative appeal for motion towards a new concept: dignified food security

At the crossroads: new paradigms of food security, public health nutrition and school food

Public health nutrition sits at the nexus of a global crisis in food, environmental and health systems that has generated – along with numerous other problems – an urgent and changing problem of food insecurity. The ‘new’ food insecurity, however, is different from the old: it is bimodal, encompassing issues of both under- and over-consumption, hunger and obesity, quantity and quality; it has assumed a decidedly urban dimension; and it implicates rich and poor countries alike. The complexity of the expressions of this challenge requires new approaches to public health nutrition and food policy that privilege systemic, structural and environmental factors over individual and mechanistic ones. In this context, the current paper argues that school food systems rise with buoyant potential as promising intervention sites: they are poised to address both modes of the food security crisis; integrate systemic, structural and environmental with behavioural approaches; and comprise far-reaching, system-wide efforts that influence the wider functioning of the food system. Based on a discussion of Bogota´ and other pioneering policies that explicitly aim to create a broader food system with longterm foundations for good public health and food security, the paper suggests a new research and action agenda that gives special attention to school food in urban contexts

Stress-dependent relocalization of translationally primed mRNPs to cytoplasmic granules that are kinetically and spatially distinct from P-bodies

Cytoplasmic RNA granules serve key functions in the control of messenger RNA (mRNA) fate in eukaryotic cells. For instance, in yeast, severe stress induces mRNA relocalization to sites of degradation or storage called processing bodies (P-bodies). In this study, we show that the translation repression associated with glucose starvation causes the key translational mediators of mRNA recognition, eIF4E, eIF4G, and Pab1p, to resediment away from ribosomal fractions. These mediators then accumulate in P-bodies and in previously unrecognized cytoplasmic bodies, which we define as EGP-bodies. Our kinetic studies highlight the fundamental difference between EGP- and P-bodies and reflect the complex dynamics surrounding reconfiguration of the mRNA pool under stress conditions. An absence of key mRNA decay factors from EGP-bodies points toward an mRNA storage function for these bodies. Overall, this study highlights new potential control points in both the regulation of mRNA fate and the global control of translation initiation

Mobilisation of Public Support for Policy Actions to Prevent Obesity

Public mobilisation is needed to enact obesity prevention policies and to mitigate backlash against their implementation. However, current approaches in public health focus primarily on dialogue between public health professionals and political leaders. Strategies to increase popular demand for obesity prevention policies include refining and streamlining public information, identifying effective frames for each population, enhancing media advocacy, building citizen protest and engagement, and developing a receptive political environment with change agents embedded across organisations and sectors. Long-term support and investment in collaboration among diverse stakeholders to create shared value is also important. Each actor in an expanded coalition for obesity prevention can make specific contributions to engaging, mobilising and coalescing the public. Shifting from a top-down to an integrated bottom-up and top-down approach would require an overhaul of current strategies and re-prioritisation of resources

The compromised, colonized discourse of alternative food

This article examines how and to what extent the alternative food movement (afm), in its various incarnations, has effectively disrupted a food discourse space dominated and ordered by the global-industrial food system. The movement has achieved many particular victories —school gardens here, healthier canteen lunches there; shorter food supply chains here, local-product labeling there; organic cultivation practices here, and at least a little composting there— and some people view the collection of these victories as the beginning of a larger, more general one. They will give testimony to how the food movement might have “succeeded.” This article, instead, is about how it has not. Though the afm gathers very many members of diverse provenance and priority and earns widespread attention as an object of scholarship (see Ashe, 2013 for a review), I submit that it is profaned precisely by its alterity. The afm’s celebrated achievements are bounded by and within an epistemology of blindness (Santos, 2009, 2014), and, blind to its philosophical intoxication, the movement’s successes only reinforce that which they move against. What I denounce here is not the entire alternative food movement story, to be sure, and the empirical base from which I draw its example, New York City’s institutionally ruddered “alterity,” is a pointer to that story’s substance rather than a total capture of it. Still, New York’s example and all that I denounce along with it comprise a major part of the afm, a powerful part that emerges from within the epistemic centers of the world-system (Wallerstein, 2011) and is privileged —or burdened— with all the cognitive, political, social, and economic prerogative that this entails. Futility and failure, however, are not stories readily told or sold, and these are parts of the alternative food movement’s reality too little pronounced. In this paper, I pronounce them: the alternative food movement, or at least those parts of it bound to the epistemic promises of the modern world-system’s centers, is a Trojan horse

The compromised, colonized discourse of alternative food

This article examines how and to what extent the alternative food movement (afm), in its various incarnations, has effectively disrupted a food discourse space dominated and ordered by the global-industrial food system. The movement has achieved many particular victories —school gardens here, healthier canteen lunches there; shorter food supply chains here, local-product labeling there; organic cultivation practices here, and at least a little composting there— and some people view the collection of these victories as the beginning of a larger, more general one. They will give testimony to how the food movement might have “succeeded.” This article, instead, is about how it has not. Though the afm gathers very many members of diverse provenance and priority and earns widespread attention as an object of scholarship (see Ashe, 2013 for a review), I submit that it is profaned precisely by its alterity. The afm’s celebrated achievements are bounded by and within an epistemology of blindness (Santos, 2009, 2014), and, blind to its philosophical intoxication, the movement’s successes only reinforce that which they move against. What I denounce here is not the entire alternative food movement story, to be sure, and the empirical base from which I draw its example, New York City’s institutionally ruddered “alterity,” is a pointer to that story’s substance rather than a total capture of it. Still, New York’s example and all that I denounce along with it comprise a major part of the afm, a powerful part that emerges from within the epistemic centers of the world-system (Wallerstein, 2011) and is privileged —or burdened— with all the cognitive, political, social, and economic prerogative that this entails. Futility and failure, however, are not stories readily told or sold, and these are parts of the alternative food movement’s reality too little pronounced. In this paper, I pronounce them: the alternative food movement, or at least those parts of it bound to the epistemic promises of the modern world-system’s centers, is a Trojan horse.Este artigo examina como e até que ponto o Movimento Alimentar Alternativo (afm, em inglês), em suas diversas versões, tem tido um impacto sobre um espaço discursivo alimentar dominado e organizado pelo sistema alimentar global-industrial. O movimento tem conquistado muitas vitórias particulares —hortas escolares, estabelecimentos com almoços mais saudáveis, cadeias de abastecimento alimentar mais curtas, rotulagem de produtos locais, práticas orgânicas de cultivo e, pelo menos, um pouco de compostagem. Algumas pessoas veem o conjunto dessas conquistas como o começo de uma maior e mais ampla, e estão prontas para testemunhar sobre como o afm poderia ter sido “bem-sucedido”. Contudo, este artigo argumenta como não tem sido. Embora o afm reúna partidários de diversas origens e prioridades, e goze de ampla atenção como objeto de estudo (Ashe, 2013), proponho que o movimento se vê profanado justamente por sua alteridade. Os triunfos tão celebrados pelo afm encontram-se limitados por e no interior de uma epistemologia da cegueira (Santos, 2009, 2014), e assim cega sua intoxicação filosófica, os sucessos do movimento só reforçam aquilo que pretendem combater. Com certeza, o que denuncio aqui não é a totalidade do relato do movimento alimentar. A base empírica que tomo como exemplo, a “alteridade” institucionalmente dirigida da cidade de Nova York, aponta à substância do relato que a capte totalmente. Ainda assim, o exemplo de Nova York e tudo o que denuncio a respeito inclui grande parte do afm, uma parte poderosa que surge do interior dos centros epistêmicos do sistema-mundo (Wallerstein, 2011) e goza de —ou se vê oprimido por— todas as prerrogativas cognitivas, políticas, sociais e econômicas que isso implica. No entanto, as histórias de futilidade e fracasso não se contam nem se vendem com facilidade, e estas são as partes da realidade do movimento alimentar alternativo das quais pouco se falam. Neste trabalho, pronuncio-me a respeito: o afm, ou pelo menos aquelas partes suas vinculadas às promessas epistêmicas dos centros do sistema-mundo moderno, é um cavalo de Troia.El artículo examina cómo y hasta qué punto el Movimiento Alimentario Alternativo (afm, por su sigla en inglés), en sus diversas versiones, ha impactado en un espacio discursivo alimentario dominado y ordenado por el sistema alimentario global-industrial. El movimiento ha logrado muchas victorias particulares: huertas escolares, almuerzos de cafetería más saludables, cadenas de suministro alimentarias más cortas, etiquetamiento de productos locales, prácticas orgánicas de cultivo y al menos un poco de compostaje. Algunas personas ven el conjunto de estos triunfos como el comienzo de uno más grande y más general y están listas para dar testimonio acerca de cómo el afm podría haber sido “exitoso”. Por el contrario, este artículo argumenta cómo no lo ha sido. Aunque el afm reúne partidarios de muy diverso origen y prioridad, y goza de amplia atención como objeto de estudio (Ashe, 2013), propongo que el movimiento se ve profanado precisamente por su alteridad. Los logros tan celebrados del afm se hallan limitados por y al interior de una epistemología de la ceguera (Santos, 2009, 2014), y así, ciega a su intoxicación filosófica, los éxitos del movimiento solo refuerzan aquello que pretenden combatir. Ciertamente, lo que denuncio aquí no es la totalidad del relato del movimiento alimentario. La base empírica que tomo como ejemplo, la “alteridad” institucionalmente dirigida de la ciudad de Nueva York, más bien apunta a la sustancia del relato que la capte totalmente. Aun así, el ejemplo de Nueva York y todo lo que denuncio al respecto incluye a gran parte del afm, una sección poderosa que surge desde el interior de los centros epistémicos del sistema-mundo (Wallerstein, 2011) y goza de —o se ve agobiada por— todas las prerrogativas cognitivas, políticas, sociales y económicas que esto implica. No obstante, las historias de futilidad y fracaso no se cuentan ni se venden fácilmente, y estas son las partes de la realidad del movimiento alimentario alternativo de las que poco se habla. En este trabajo me pronuncio al respecto: el movimiento alimentario alternativo es un caballo de Troya, o al menos aquellas partes suyas vinculadas a las promesas epistémicas de los centros del sistema-mundo moderno

Convergence in diversity: New York City school food and the future of the Food Movement

In the context of a global food system that has given rise to widespread concerns for food security and sustainability, reformative efforts have emerged, expanded and multiplied worldwide. To enhance understanding of the multi-faceted nature of this food movement and its scope for convergence and consolidation, in this article we propose frame alignment and alliance-building as a theoretical and analytical framework. Using New York City as a case study, we explore how school food reform may act as a particularly powerful platform for coalescing the interests and goals of diverse food system actors. We conclude with a call to interrogate school food and other reform activities with specific attention to the opportunities they pose for finding ‘convergence in diversity’ — in other words, for aligning the diverse and often fragmented efforts of the ‘food movement’ around an integrated and shared agenda with heightened potential for impact

Lee J. Krajewski Decision-Based Collaborative Optimization

In this research a Collaborative Optimization (CO) approach for multidisciplinary systems design is used to develop a decisio

At the crossroads: new paradigms of food security, public health nutrition and school food

Public health nutrition sits at the nexus of a global crisis in food, environmental and health systems that has generated – along with numerous other problems – an urgent and changing problem of food insecurity. The ‘new’ food insecurity, however, is different from the old: it is bimodal, encompassing issues of both under- and over-consumption, hunger and obesity, quantity and quality; it has assumed a decidedly urban dimension; and it implicates rich and poor countries alike. The complexity of the expressions of this challenge requires new approaches to public health nutrition and food policy that privilege systemic, structural and environmental factors over individual and mechanistic ones. In this context, the current paper argues that school food systems rise with buoyant potential as promising intervention sites: they are poised to address both modes of the food security crisis; integrate systemic, structural and environmental with behavioural approaches; and comprise far-reaching, system-wide efforts that influence the wider functioning of the food system. Based on a discussion of Bogota´ and other pioneering policies that explicitly aim to create a broader food system with longterm foundations for good public health and food security, the paper suggests a new research and action agenda that gives special attention to school food in urban contexts