Where Next for Food Law?: From Food as Sustenance to Food as Meaning

Despite the rapid growth of food law, the field has been governed to a great extent by the “food as sustenance” paradigm. This approach views food primarily as organic matter essential for the biological survival and physical well-being of humans and animals, but its monopoly leaves the field impoverished of the complex and myriad ways in which food functions in the lives of individuals and societies. Dr. Yofi Tirosh, a professor at Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law and pioneer in the field of food law, discusses her call for a shift from the “food as sustenance” paradigm to a “food as meaning” paradigm, stressing that food has important roles in sustaining social institutions and in creating meaning in the lives of legal subjects. She will argue that laws and doctrines designed without appreciating that food is not only a means of physical survival, but also that food has symbolic value attached to its preparation and consumption, are bound to be less effective and less just. More Info.