A Cookbook Approach to Building Community: Applying a Narrative Lens to Food Work

There has been a push from community food activists to create community food work practices which are more democratic, collective, and connected to social justice goals. As a response to these calls, this research project explore the research questions of “how can a collective narrative approach be applied to community food work programming in order to render this type of programming more inclusive and empowering for participants?” Using a narrative approach to probe this question, this community-based participatory project develops a “food narratives” framework to doing community food work. In-depth interviews, as well as a creative focus group session with community food practitioners served to gain insight into to the work being done on the ground. This research grounds this framework in theories of affect, intersectionality, and critical pedagogy, contending that “food narratives” can be mobilized within community food spaces as a means of exploring identity, creating community, and building resilience.