Search results for "Local food"
showing 10 items of 19 documents
Are alternative food networks winning strategies to increase organic SMEs profitability? Evidence from a case study
2020
The aim of this study was to understand how and how much alternative food networks (AFNs) contribute to increasing the profitability of the organic SMEs, compared to traditional organic sales channels. For this purpose, an economic analysis and an in-depth interview were carried out in a case study located in the Sicilian northern coast. Findings showed a clear convenience of the participation to alternative food networks compared to the case in which all farm production was conferred to traditional sales channels, highlighting an increase both of farm profit (+76.9%) and net income (+72.1%). However, the in-depth interview revealed that AFNs are a mean, not only to have economic benefits, …
Motives for buying local, organic food through English box schemes
2018
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explain the growing interest of English consumers in local organic food sold through box schemes, by providing insights into the motives of customers of such schemes and examining the relationship with their awareness about problems of the agro-food system. Design/methodology/approach A mixed methods approach combined in-depth interviews with 22 box scheme customers with a quantitative survey of 416 consumers, analysed by means of principal component analysis and an ordered logit model. Findings Consumers of small local organic box schemes in England are both altruistically and hedonistically motivated. This includes a strong political motivation to …
Tourists’ motivation toward culinary destination choice: targeting Italian tourists
2021
Over the last years, social and environmental issues have played an increasingly important role both for tourists’ destination choice and for the consumption of agri-food products. However, in the literature on culinary tourists’ behavior, it is not clear whether sustainability issues also affect the configuration of specific culinary tourists’ targets. This study tries to bridge this gap by carrying out a segmentation of culinary tourists in Italy, a country known worldwide for its culinary specialties. In particular, this study aims to understand whether the growing tourists’ sensitivity toward environmental and social aspects shapes specific targets of culinary tourists. The results show…
Minestre siciliane e un osservato speciale: la minestra di tenerumi
2020
Questo capitolo prende in esame una famiglia di pietanze che ha ampia diffusione in Italia e in Sicilia, quella delle minestre. Il termine minestra, di difficilissima traduzione, raccoglie piatti talvolta molto diversi tra loro fino ad accomunare, nei ricettari meno recenti, tutti i primi piatti italiani. Nel capitolo sarà approfondito il problema della vaghezza semantica del termine e prenderemo in esame una delle minestre siciliane più note: la "minestra di tenerumi", caratterizzata dalla presenza di un ingrediente autoctona, la cucuzza lunga con le sue foglie. La presenza di quest'ingrediente contribuisce a stabilizzare l'identità del piatto, da un lato, e a sancirne la tipicità e, dunqu…
Come si fa una cucina regionale. Semiotica del gusto e gastrosfera siciliana
2020
Questo capitolo affronta il tema della cucina regionale in chiave semiotica e introduce un caso di analisi specifico: la gastronomia siciliana. Dopo una breve ricostruzione degli studi storici, antropologici e sociali che si sono occupati dell'argomento, il capitolo procede alla composizione di un corpus di ricettari siciliani che sarà oggetto di analisi nel resto del volume. In chiave semiotica, il genere testuale del ricettario regionale costituisce uno dei principali veicoli di costruzione e circolazione delle cucine regionali e rappresenta, oltre che un oggetto di analisi complesso e sfidante, anche uno strumento di costruzione politica della regionalità: il ricettario seleziona e filtr…
Pasta alla Norma: il piatto perfetto
2020
Il capitolo ricostruisce la genesi culturale di uno dei piatti più rappresentativi e universalmente apprezzati della cucina siciliana: la pasta alla Norma. Questo piatto si presta come un caso esemplare di studio del "mito delle origini", ossia di mito alimentare che condensa, nelle proprie strutture semantiche, il suo valore sociale stesso. Il capitolo approfondisce l'intertestualità tra pietanza e aneddoto, la particolare composizione figurativa ed estesica del piatto, oltre che le condizioni culturali che ne determinano il valore di "perfezione". The chapter reconstructs the cultural genesis of one of the most representative and universally appreciated dishes of Sicilian cuisine: pasta a…
How alternative food networks work in a metropolitan area? An analysis of Solidarity Purchase Groups in Northern Italy
2019
AbstractOur paper focuses on Solidarity Purchase Group (SPG) participants located in a highly urbanized area, with the aim to investigate the main motivations underlining their participation in a SPG and provide a characterization of them. To this end, we carried out a survey of 795 participants involved in 125 SPGs in the metropolitan area of Milan (Italy). Taking advantage of a questionnaire with 39 questions, we run a factor analysis and a two-step cluster analysis to identify different profiles of SPG participants. Our results show that the system of values animating metropolitan SPG practitioners does not fully conform to that traditionally attributed to an alternative food network (AF…
Electric mobility in the Sicilian short food supply chain
2019
This paper is the first study to explore the intention of entrepreneurs operating in the Short Food Supply Chain to adopt electric mobility inside their business. For this purpose, a case study approach was chosen, employing a questionnaire based on the Theory of Planned Behaviour and the New Ecological Paradigm to investigate the determinants affecting this intentional behaviour. The empirical analysis has been carried out in the city of Palermo (Italy), involving 42 entrepreneurs who participate in farmer's markets. Results show that entrepreneurs with higher levels of intention to introduce sustainable means of transport, such as electric vehicles, are the most concerned about the enviro…
THE ENTREPRENEURS’ PROPENSITY TO ADOPT ELECTRIC MOBILITY IN THE SHORT FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN
2019
In the last years, Short Food Supply Chain (SFSC) has gained relevant attention among the consumers, for its characteristics of environmental, economic and social sustainability. At the same time, recently some doubts has been raised about the environmental negative impacts that also SFSC is causing, despite the intrinsic “local” label. In particular, the reference is on the transport system and related CO2 emissions of SFSC that undermines the full achievement of environmental concerns. To deal with this challenge, electric vehicles (EVs) are seen as a viable and very promising alternative. Starting from these considerations, this study investigates the propensity of entrepreneurs operatin…
Are Farmers in Alternative Food Networks Social Entrepreneurs? Evidence from a Behavioral Approach
2015
Social entrepreneurship, individual activities with a social objective, is used in this study as a conceptual tool for empirically examining farmers’ participation in alternative food networks (AFNs). This study verifies whether their participation is driven by the social entrepreneurship dimension to satisfy social and environmental needs. We develop a more inclusive view of how social entrepreneurship is present among farmers participating in AFNs by using a behavioural approach based on three main psychological constructs: attitude, objective, and behaviour. The empirical results show that two types of farmers participate in AFNs. One type is closer to commercial entrepreneurs; the main …