Performing food and nutritional security in Europe: claims, promises and limitations

Food and Nutritional Security (FNS) is attracting growing attention amongst food system scholars. Drawing on assemblage thinking, this article aims to contribute to the ongoing scholarly and policy debate on tackling food problems and societal concerns about the future and direction of the global food system. We make use of assemblage theory and the food and agrarian sociology literature to identify cases for further scrutiny. The cases were selected based on claims and discourses as well as on what is actually happening in everyday reality. The case material has been developed in the context of a collaborative research project on issues of FNS in Europe. These cases are treated conceptually as heterogeneous and fluid socio-material constellations that contain promises to address different aspects of contemporary FNS challenges. An unravelling and unpacking of FNS inspired by assemblage theory enriches the food security debate through focussing on real, performed, new and promising configurations, and their underlying governance arrangements.