Cooking Up Change? Alternative Agrifood Practices and the Labor of Food Provisioning DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Rebecca L. Som Castellano Graduate Program in Rural Sociology The Ohio State University 2013 Dissertation Committee: Professor Jeff Sharp, Advisor Professor Linda Lobao Professor Kristi Lekies Copyrighted by Rebecca L. Som Castellano 2013 Abstract Changes in the agrifood system, including increased industrialization, concentration and globalization, viewed by many as negatively impacting environmental, community and social well being, have prompted the rise of alternative agrifood initiatives. Alternative agrifood advocates often promote the use of whole foods, rather than processed foods, and aim to extend the local food season through activities such as canning, drying, and other forms of food storage. This is important to note given that food provisioning, which includes the of planning meals, acquiring food, preparing meals, and cleaning up, remains a largely gendered act. Thus, these expanded alternative agrifood practices could importantly be influencing the food provisioning labor of women. Food provisioning has been found to involve a physical, mental and emotional dimension. This study hypothesizes that the physical and emotional dimensions of food provisioning could be heightened for women who participate in alternative agrifood practices. Research suggests that socio-demographic factors also importantly influence the labor of food provisioning. Thus, this study applies a theory of intersectionality to further consider how socio-economic status and race/ethnicity, in addition to age, presence of children, partnership status, and employment status are associated with the physical and emotional dimensions of food provisioning, particularly for women engaged in alternative agrifood practices. While work and family scholars and feminist food ii studies scholars have examined the ways in which women experience food provisioning, they have failed to examine how the changing agrifood system, and the attendant social reactions, are influencing this realm of household labor. On the other hand, agrifood scholars have paid great attention to the changing agrifood system, but have failed to empirically examine the gendered practices of food provisioning, and how this activity is influenced by engagement in alternative agrifood practices. This dissertation aims to fill these gaps by exploring the relationship between engagement in alternative agrifood practices and the physical and emotional dimensions of food provisioning. This research is important for a number of reasons. First, this promotion of expanded and gendered food provisioning practices is inconsistent with alternative agrifood rhetoric about improving well being through reform of the agrifood system. In addition, the potential physical and emotional burdens of food provisioning for women engaged in alternative agrifood practices could act as a social limitation to scaling up sustainable alternatives to the conventional agrifood system. To test the hypotheses developed for this study, a mixed methods approach was utilized. First, quantitative data was gathered through the 2012 Ohio Survey of Food, Agriculture, and Environmental Issues. Survey research was used to examine how alternative agrifood practices are associated with the physical and emotional dimensions of food provisioning, as well as how the socio-demographic factors listed above influence the physical and emotional dimensions of food provisioning. In addition, interviews were conducted with 43 women across the state of Ohio who are actively engaged in alternative agrifood practices. This qualitative data provided more in-depth information iii about how women engaging in alternative agrifood practices experience the physical and emotional dimensions of food provisioning, and how socio-demographic factors moderate this relationship. In all, the data supported the hypotheses. Women engaged in alternative agrifood practices, compared to women who are not engaged in the alternative agrifood practices, appear to spend more time in food provisioning, cook more from scratch, and engage in a wider variety of food provisioning activities, suggesting that women who are highly engaged in alternative agrifood practices could be engaging in a third shift. Engaging in alternative agrifood practices also appears to heighten women’s negative feelings with food provisioning, such as a sense of demand in food provisioning, and further heightens women’s positive feelings with food provisioning, such as sense of reward. In addition, having lower incomes, being non-white, being employed, having a partner, having children and being younger all appear to add to the physical and emotional burden of food provisioning. Engaging in alternative agrifood practices, as well as having children, and having a partner, on the other hand, appear to enhance women’s positive feelings with food provisioning. This study contributes to our understanding of the social limitations to scaling up alternative agrifood practices, and informs our understanding of how engaging in alternative agrifood practices can be a third shift, but also can be a form of rewarding care work. These findings also have significant implications for food system activism and agrifood system policy making. iv This dissertation is dedicated in loving memory to my grandmother, Carolyn Decker, and to my mother, Connie Som, who taught me how to care for the earth, and for each other, with food. v Acknowledgments There are many people I would like to thank for helping me through this dissertation project. I would first like to thank my advisor, Dr. Jeff Sharp. His steadfast guidance throughout my PhD program has been invaluable, and his belief in this project and material support truly made this dissertation possible. He has been patient and kind, and has helped me develop the skills necessary to succeed as a scholar. I must also express my gratitude to Drs. Linda Lobao, Kristi Lekies and Cathy Rakowski for their support throughout graduate school, and their assistance with this dissertation. Thanks also to Dr. Joanna Badagliacco, who first inspired me to consider gender in my research, and to Dr. Molly Bean Smith, who provided important support for this project. Throughout my PhD program, I have been fortunate to be surrounded by wonderful peers who have provided intellectual stimulation, encouragement and entertainment. In particular, I must thank Justin Schupp, Joe Campbell, Erin Caricofe, Caitlin Marquis, Cory Andersen, Divya Gupta and Javier Rodriguez. I would also like to thank julia barton, who has been a remarkable friend, and whose belief in this project re- inspired me when I was in doubt. Danielle Deemer also deserves particular thanks. We enjoyed many coffee shop work sessions, which was tremendously helpful in completing this dissertation. vi My family has been a remarkable source of support. My parents, Thomas and Connie Som, have always encouraged me to think critically, ask questions and live with enthusiasm. I am incredibly fortunate to have parents who are generous and kind, and who taught me how to work hard and with ‘good skill.’ I have also been lucky to be surrounded by loving and supportive grandparents, Max and Carolyn Decker and Tony and Clarice Som. While they are not all here with us in body, I hold them in my heart and find inspiration daily in how they lived their own lives. My graduate school career would have never started if not for my husband, Isaac, and he deserves my deepest appreciation. He believed in my abilities far before I did. He has been steadfast in his love and acceptance, his dedication and willingness to sacrifice. I am deeply grateful that I get to share my life with such a caring person. Thanks are also due to my son, Emre. His sweet smile and warm hugs have been a welcome distraction throughout this process, and he always helps me keep things in perspective. The heart of this research is about acknowledging the work that women engaged in the alternative agrifood movement do. Thus, I must acknowledge the women who participated in this research. I am indebted to all of the women who gave me their time, and I am thankful for their hard work aimed at creating change via their food provisioning in our dramatically changing agrifood system. Funding for the 2012 survey was provided by Ohio State University Extension, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), North Central SARE and OSU’s College of Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Funding vii for this projected was also provided by the USDA National Needs Graduate Fellowship Competitive Grant No. 2008-38420-18750 from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture and from the Coca Cola Critical Difference for Women Dissertation Grant. viii Vita April, 1980 .................Born, Tacoma, Washington June, 1999 ..................Lakeside High School, Nine Mile Falls, Washington August, 2002 ..............B.A. Interdisciplinary Studies, Western Washington University 2002-2004 ..................Community Garden Coordinator, Oregon Food Bank 2004-2007 ..................Farmers’ Market Manager, Pike Place Market 2007-2008 ..................Teaching Associate, Sociology, University of Kentucky 2008-2009 ..................Research Assistant, Sociology, University of Kentucky December, 2009 .........M.A. Sociology, University of Kentucky 2010............................Research Assistant, Ohio Department of Agriculture 2009-2012 ..................USDA National Needs Fellow, Rural Sociology, The Ohio State University 2013-present ...............Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University ix