Challenges of building alternatives: the experience of a consumer food co-operative in Istanbul. (27th May 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Öz, Özlem; Aksoy, Zuhre
• Is Part Of: Food, culture, & society. Volume 22:Number 3(2019)
• Page Start: 299
• Page End: 315
• Publication Date: 2019-05-27
• Subjects: Food co-operatives -- alternative food movements -- diverse economies -- degrowth -- scholar activism -- auto-ethnography; Food -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Nutrition policy -- Periodicals; 641
• DOI: 10.1080/15528014.2019.1596529
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1751-7443

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This paper provides an in-depth analysis of BÜKOOP (Bogazici University Consumer Co-operative), a university-based consumer food co-operative established in 2009 in Istanbul. The pessimism about alternative food movements in general and food co-operatives in particular is challenged by the case of BÜKOOP, which is a "successful" consumer food co-operative that has survived to date without sacrificing its original goals. The overall contributions afforded by the study are twofold. First, the case study speaks to the literatures on alternative food movements and on food co-ops, providing insights regarding challenges of building alternatives as well as how to deal with them. In the case of BÜKOOP, the following intertwined dimensions of the issue have emerged as of crucial importance in this regard: how to handle the tension between "ideals" and "practical necessities, " whether "small is (indeed) beautiful, " how to develop and maintain a "co-op spirit, " and what it means to be a "successful" consumer food co-op. Second, since the authors are among the founders of BÜKOOP, the study also provides a contribution to the growing literature on scholar-activist auto-ethnography.