How have animals become embedded in Norwegian foodways?

Keywords: systems of provision, meat, constitution of demand
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Friday
Session Start / End Time: 2/25/2022 09:40 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/25/2022 11:00 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 46

Abstract

This paper looks at how the supply and demand of meat have co-evolved in Norwegian food practices. The ever-escalating nature of demand and supply—visible through mechanisms such as the ‘rebound effect’ (see Wilhite 2016)—implies that we need to start asking questions of how demand is constituted, and how supply and demand is interrelated. Our food practices are connected to sociotechnical and cultural variables, as well as the system that provides food. Instead of focusing only on consumption per se, this paper argues that the system of provisions perspective is useful because it shows the inclusive chain of activity that attaches consumption to the production that makes it possible (Fine 2002). Grasping the ways in which new food products occur on our plates depends on an understanding of the relation between urban centres and rural farms (DuPuis 2002). Along the chain, there are differences in materials, meanings, and competencies, in this case: how meat has been rendered commonplace for Norwegians through the involvement of the state, companies, citizens and consumers. In short, the systems of provision approach renders visible the tenet that demand is not simply met, but it is also made (Rinkinen et al. 2020). Based on urban and rural interview material in Norway (n=40 in total), as well as historical and contemporary document analysis, this paper studies the co-constitution of supply and demand of meat and its embeddedness in Norwegian food practices. Findings showcase the many different arenas in which animals gradually have taken over plant-based foodways in Norway.