Reflecting on The Dinner of Relations
Rosa de Nooijer
Social Justice Perspectives, International Institute of Social Studies, Den haag, Netherlands
ABSTRACT
This article reflects on previous research about farming and eating practices of organic and biodynamic farmers in The Netherlands. With the commitment to continue this work, this paper explores connections between eating, food, and COVID-19. The pandemic, which works as a magnifying glass when revisiting farming and eating practices, allows for a critical reflection while asking new questions to the previously gathered data. A parallel is drawn between monocultures of agro-industrial food production and mono-cultures of the mind, specifically in conventional approaches to social scientific research. In doing so, suggestions are shared for how we can contribute to agrarian transformations that move away from monocultures of farming and singular ways of understanding our existence, towards more socially and ecologically just ways of producing and eating food, as well of researching and thinking about them.
KEYWORDS: Food eating feminism farmers monocultures