The “Tapestries of Practice” conceptual framework : Taking a lens of migration to trace relationships between food cultural practices and sustainability

Abstract: Globalization of food systems is cause and consequence of cultural shifts and has profound effects on the socioecological sustainability of agricultural landscapes. Despite this, empirical studies of culture in food system sustainability are rare. I use migration as a lens through which to explore the interconnected cultural and agroecological dimensions of food practices in the wake of globalization.  I develop a framework for tracing the relationships between food cultures and sustainability by talking, cooking, and eating with people that have migrated to European cities from more agricultural societies. Whilst industrialization of food systems and other top-down processes influence their practices in new places, participants helped me to understand that these practices are also guided by changing threads such as values of community care, knowledge of agricultural livelihoods and reluctant consumption of industrially processed foods.   Taken with the stories of these people, I develop the concept of re-dwelling to arrive at an understanding of changing threads in values, knowledge, and materials as interwoven into ever emerging “Tapestries of Practice”. This conceptual framework encourages us to move away from static, exoticized or overly romanticized views of people, places and practices, towards a more complex, and thereby more realistic, understanding. The Tapestries of Practice framework contributes to broader efforts in sustainability science to better address culture. Inclusion of migrants in research and practice can heighten sensitivity to cultural sustainability, ensuring that people can maintain their sense of identity through re-dwelling their knowledge in new places.