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"Everyone just ate good food": 'Good food' in Islamabad, Pakistan

Abstract:
In recent years, consumption of alternatively produced foods has increased in popularity in response to the deleterious effects of rapidly globalising and industrialised food systems. Concerns over food safety in relation to these changes may result from elevated levels of risk and changing perceptions associated with food production practices. This paper explores how the middle class residents of Islamabad, Pakistan, use the concept of 'good food' to reconnect themselves with nature, changing food systems, and traditional values. The paper also demonstrates how these ideas relate to those of organic, local, and traditional food consumption as currently used in more economically developed states in the Global North. Through research based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews, this paper illustrates that besides price and convenience, purity, freshness, association with specific places, and 'Pakistani-ness' were considered as the basis for making decisions about 'good food'. The results show that while individuals are aware of and have some access to imported organic and local food, they prefer using holistic and culturally informed concepts of 'good food' instead that reconnect them with food systems. I argue that through conceptualisations of 'good food', the urban middle class in Islamabad is reducing their disconnection and dis-embeddedness from nature, the food systems, and their social identities. The paper contributes to literature on food anxieties, reconnections in food geography, and 'good food' perceptions, with a focus on Pakistan.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Publisher copy:
10.1016/j.appet.2018.04.013

Authors

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Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
SSD
Department:
SOGE
Sub department:
Environmental Change Institute
Oxford college:
St Cross College
Role:
Author

Publisher:
Elsevier
Journal:
Appetite More from this journal
Volume:
127
Pages:
1-9
Publication date:
2018-04-16
Acceptance date:
2018-04-11
DOI:
EISSN:
1095-8304
ISSN:
0195-6663
Pmid:
29673910

Language:
English
Keywords:
Pubs id:
pubs:843600
UUID:
uuid:1c8ce91a-257d-402d-8e8f-75335dc84939
Local pid:
pubs:843600
Source identifiers:
843600
Deposit date:
2018-04-23
ARK identifier:

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