What is wrong with contemporary food systems? There are multiple diagnoses coming from different fields, including medicine, economy, ethics, social policies, human rights movements, environmental activism, and food technologies. These expert diagnoses influence food policies, legal regulations and economies. But how are everyday food choices made? How do common people perceive the disadvantages of contemporary globalized food systems? How do they see and criticize their food environment? By in-depth analysis of food fears and food dystopias one can picture “the other side” of food culture and discover the consequences of bottom-up criticisms. This discussion will analyze how some food fears are framed and practiced within the Eastern European context and discuss how they can be considered to be both cultural traits and reflections of socioeconomic positions of individuals and populations. It will also present the hypothesis that food fears can create grass roots, local solutions for contemporary broken food systems.
