Vegetable gardens for self-consumption in Sierra de Huelva: quality, social roots and food sovereignty
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Abstract
In current consumer society, food has just become another commodity from the capitalist and global economics machinery. Within this context, being able to feed oneself apart from this system —by means of growing, harvesting and consuming your own food— has become, actually, a social aspiration and an ideological allegation. In this contribution we research the role played by vegetable gardens for self-consumption in Sierra de Huelva (Andalusia, Spain) by analysing different aspects far beyond their productive function. Surveys, interviews and field observations have been used to obtain relevant information that contributes to define these agro-food systems as multi-functional ones. Besides, and although they are marginally represented in space, they are of key importance because of their singularity within a landscape dominated by the Mediterranean wood-pastures (dehesa). We reach the conclusion that gardeners that dwell in this region give these gardens and their harvests a special meaning, not only because the quality of the obtained food, but because the emotional attachment, the symbolic value and the wellness provided to them.