How do representations of sustainable food consumption change among different generations of critical consumers? Insights from Civic Food Networks in Milan

From the last decades of the 20th Century, facing the criticalities of the agri-food system, some consumers in industrialized countries have started to build Civic Food Networks (CFNs) for sustainable food provisioning. In Italy, the most widespread form of CFNs is Solidarity Purchasing Groups (SPGs). SPGs were founded both with the aim of acquiring sustainable food and with the political ideal of transforming society by reconfiguring the economic relations between producers and consumers. Today, in a context in which sustainable food is easily accessible, what is the sense for young people to start new CFNs? Using a selection of qualitative materials, the article compares the meanings that two different generations of CFNs founders attribute to their consumption practices. The results show that they share similar representations of sustainable consumption, but the younger generation doesn’t attribute to it a political meaning. This reflects into a more flexible participation in CFNs.