Making Sense of “Local Food,” Urban Revitalization, and Gentrification in Oklahoma City
This chapter examines the linkages between urban revitalization in Oklahoma City and Oklahoma’s statewide local food movement, focusing on three phases: a period of emergence, led by the Oklahoma Food Cooperative; an innovative “hybrid cooperative”; a period of expansion, in which a number of local food-related firms and organizations proliferated, particularly in and around Oklahoma City, which was undergoing a period of intensive downtown redevelopment and gentrification; and a more static, defensive period characterized by business closures and the saturation of a niche market. This account demonstrates how the meanings associated with “local food” shifted as the movement aligned itself with actors associated with Oklahoma City’s revitalization efforts, drawing “local food” away from an early emphasis on balancing economic, ecological, and justice concerns in favor of capturing premium prices for more fetishized foods.