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Wine is not Coca-Cola: marketization and taste in alternative food networks

Krzywoszynska, Anna

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Authors

Anna Krzywoszynska



Abstract

This paper engages with the question: how can the marketization of ecologically embedded edibles be enabled in alternative food networks? The challenge lies in the fact that ecologically embedded edibles, grown and made through primarily ecological rather than industrial processes, and using artisan, traditional, and quality practices, show variable and uncertain characteristics. The characteristics, or qualities, of ecologically embedded edibles vary both geographically and in time, challenging the creation of stable market networks. How can ecologically embedded wines be sold when there is no certainty about their qualities? In this article I propose that certainty around qualities is not as crucial an element of transactions as some authors suggest, and I draw on the case study of ecologically embedded wines to extract wider lessons of relevance to marketization of foods and drinks in alternative food networks. I suggest that an understanding of taste not as a fixed and unchangeable quality of people and things, but as a relational and reflexive activity between eaters and edibles, can offer a way of valuing uncertainty around product characteristics. Through a cultivation of a “taste for uncertainty” consumers’ bodies can become enrolled in supporting artisan, quality, and traditional production through their taste buds. Some pitfalls and limitations of this approach are considered in the conclusion.

Citation

Krzywoszynska, A. (2015). Wine is not Coca-Cola: marketization and taste in alternative food networks. Agriculture and Human Values, 32(3), 491-503. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-014-9564-9

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Sep 29, 2014
Online Publication Date Nov 14, 2014
Publication Date Sep 1, 2015
Deposit Date Mar 4, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Agriculture and Human Values
Print ISSN 0889-048X
Electronic ISSN 1572-8366
Publisher Springer
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 32
Issue 3
Pages 491-503
DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-014-9564-9
Keywords Marketization, Taste, Ecological embeddedness, Alternative food networks, Uncertainty, Wine.

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