Engaging with Nature through Food in Urban Spaces: Alternative Food Initiatives Cultivating Changes in Bogotá

Sammanfattning

This research analyses how different food initiatives in Bogotá shape socio-nature relations through their food practices with the aim to realise the transformations they envision, advocate, and cultivate. Through a decolonial and relational approach, the study examines how these initiatives challenge the dominant food system's focus on economic values and instead advocate values based on care and interdependence between all living beings and Nature. Using a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews, the study shows that these initiatives promote alternative relationships with Nature that emphasise care, connection, community, and well-being. The analysis concludes that these struggles have materialised through the politicisation of food, the defence and assertion of the right to a socially and environmentally just food system, and the defence of local food practices and values, leading to a revaluation of the social, spiritual, environmental and cultural aspects of food and Nature.