Slowing Down A Hungry City: A Cultural Study of Short Food Supply Chains Initiatives in Amsterdam

Sammanfattning

Undeniably, ‘Short Food Supply Chains’ (SFSCs) or, in Dutch, ‘korte ketens’ are on the minds of policymakers and visionaries in the Netherlands. In addition, the concept has given rise to multiple small-scale initiatives. This research explores the many stories and motives behind these initiatives, as well as any other practices that are committed to SFSCs in the city of Amsterdam. Firstly, an attempt is made to outline the context in which more direct and local-scale configurations of the food supply come into being. Secondly, the research inquires into the kinds of relationships that are idealised, established and sustained through korte ketens. As it turned out, the emergence of SFSCs in Amsterdam can be associated with a variety of different developments, including moods of nostalgia, a resurgence of interest in heritage and locality, an urge to add more value to food, and experiments with new forms of cooperation. In all cases, SFSCs are meant to bridge a certain distance – between past and present, place and food, as well as between different actors within the food chain – which in turn ultimately reinstates a notion of wholesomeness within the urban food chain.