Wine is not CocaCola marketization and taste in

Authors: Anna Krzywoszynska

Publish Date: 2014/11/14

Volume: 32, Issue: 3, Pages: 491-503

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Abstract

This paper engages with the question how can the marketization of ecologically embedded edibles be enabled in alternative food networks The challenge lies in the fact that ecologically embedded edibles grown and made through primarily ecological rather than industrial processes and using artisan traditional and quality practices show variable and uncertain characteristics The characteristics or qualities of ecologically embedded edibles vary both geographically and in time challenging the creation of stable market networks How can ecologically embedded wines be sold when there is no certainty about their qualities In this article I propose that certainty around qualities is not as crucial an element of transactions as some authors suggest and I draw on the case study of ecologically embedded wines to extract wider lessons of relevance to marketization of foods and drinks in alternative food networks I suggest that an understanding of taste not as a fixed and unchangeable quality of people and things but as a relational and reflexive activity between eaters and edibles can offer a way of valuing uncertainty around product characteristics Through a cultivation of a “taste for uncertainty” consumers’ bodies can become enrolled in supporting artisan quality and traditional production through their taste buds Some pitfalls and limitations of this approach are considered in the conclusionThe research behind this paper was made possible by the ESRCfunded project “The Waste of the World” RES060230007 I would like to thank Megan Blake Peter Jackson and Chris Kjeldsen for their support and constructive comments on an earlier draft of this paper I also extend my thanks to Annemarie Mol and an anonymous reviewer whose excellent insights have pushed my thinking on this subject

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