Alternative food, disputed food: the case of Bristol as a non-conventional consumption enclave

Abstract

Alternative food stands out amongst new consumption modes. It has seen significant growth in recent years along with other initiatives that condemn the social and environmental unsustainability of the global economic system, and particularly, the food system. Motivated by this surge in demand, large supermarket chains are gradually penetrating this food market niche and therefore transforming the ways these products are distributed and commercialised. Taking the British city of Bristol, named 'vegan capital of the world' in 2018, as a case study, and through a qualitative methodology that combines participant observation in consumption spaces (supermarkets and local shops and markets) with in-depth interviews to employees of alternative food distributors and retailers, this research shows that: a) the city of Bristol is configured by a cultural, economic and institutional context that favours the rise of alternative food consumption, making this consumption mode a “city brand” and highlighting the importance of the territory in consumption modes; b) the arrival of large supermarket chains into the alternative food market is forcing companies that historically control this market to develop new commercial differentiation strategies, which is in turn modifying the way alternative food is defined, regulated and commercialised; and c) the perception that non-conventional food retailers hold of their target consumer has shifted in the last years from a homogeneous consumer to a more strategic, ambivalent one.