Food Voices

Climate change, recessions and food crises have forced the world to transform food systems and the way food is understood, farmed, fished, and consumed. The local food movement has been expanding over the past few years, which is evident in the increase of localvores, Community Supported Agriculture, food films, and the Obama White House garden. Not only is this happening in rural and urban communities in the United States, but also in national food policies from Bolivia to Ecuador.  At the same time, there is a steady beat to thwart the people's move to reclaim their right to provide healthy, safe food for their communities. Essential books have been written outlining the dangers of free trade agreements, theories behind food sovereignty, and the dire need for it, but there is no comprehensive book that illustrates the voices and images of this global movement, until now.

Food Voices: Stories of the Food Sovereignty Movement illustrates the global movement towards food sovereignty as it relates to the food providers – the farmers and the fishermen. The stories of their struggles and triumphs will be collected into a comprehensive book to strengthen and enhance the global movement towards food sovereignty. As the movement grows, there is a thirst to hear and share personal experiences and further understand the concept. Through story telling, people can learn from each other while empowering the broader movement. The book will help engage and build the movement, while offering information and resources on how to create food sovereignty in any community.

The concept of food sovereignty takes different forms and is described in different ways. Community supported fisheries may call it food justice; urban gardeners may call it food security. Food Sovereignty is a food system model that combines all these approaches. Food sovereignty promotes community-based agriculture and fishing, local control over policies, preference to community health and cultural needs, protection of biodiversity and native seeds, land reform, and access to the sea. It calls for the democratic participation in shaping policies and programs. This political and economic paradigm offers an alternative to the industrial food production and free trade models that are destroying local communities.

For more information or to help support the project, please contact Andrianna at andrianna@foodvoices.org