Shopping Versus Growing: Food Acquisition Habits of Dutch Urban Gardeners

Abstract

In this article, we explore how urban food growing gets interwoven with other areas of life and show how this differs between people actively engaged in gardening and people not or only limitedly involved. We compare four urban food-growing initiatives: two allotments and two Alternative Food Networks (AFNs); the AFNs do not require active participation. Using the theory of practice, we show that allotment gardeners are mainly involved in the practice of gardening. Having responsibility over a garden stimulates them to perform the gardening practice, turning it into a routine that has its place in everyday life. As a result, the harvest is easily integrated in the daily meal. Members of the AFNs studied engage in the practice of shopping. These AFNs therefore remain in competition with more convenient food acquisition venues such as supermarkets and members have difficulty eating from them regularly. We conclude that whether members are involved in shopping or growing impacts the degree to which they manage to eat urban-grown food. This also implies that motivations to change the current food system “only go so far”; such motivations are embedded in the context of everyday life, in which routines may forego conscious choices.