Food, publics, science

This paper draws attention to food as a site around which a historically particular form of public engagement has emerged. In the past decade, some of the most lively debates and policy actions for science and publics have focused on food related issues: first with BSE and subsequently with genetically modified organisms. Even though much of the literature surrounding publics and science acknowledges that the very definition of "publics" is shifting, little attention has been paid to food as a significant arena in which publics are engaging in politically motivated challenges to techno-scientific practices, policies and institutions. Taking food seriously means contextualizing publics as well as extending discursive models of democratic engagement to embrace consumer practices.