Cooking Up Change

299 Pages·2013·2.96 MB·English

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
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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
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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.

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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.

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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.
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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
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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.

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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

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