...This introductory chapter discusses the history of food politics and food cooperatives. Food co-ops are stores collectively owned by members who pool their resources and make decisions democratically about their businesses' policies, products, and work structures. Concerned with “pocketbook...

... Pioneer Co operative Society NPCS boycotts Rochdale principles United Farm Workers UFW strikes food labels pesticides Twin Cities’ food co ops New Pioneer Co-operative Society unionization high price rates Coralville store Iowa City store food co-ops participatory democracy Iowa City...

...This chapter explores the practices and ideologies of food co-ops established prior to the Great Depression. Before the Civil War, most buying clubs and food co-ops were formed by workingmen's associations to resolve unfair working conditions and wages as well as high food prices. After 1865, labor...

...This chapter examines the second oldest surviving food co-op today, the Hanover Consumer Co-operative Society (HCCS) in Hanover, New Hampshire. Initially consisting of Dartmouth University faculty, their wives, and students, the co-op had started small in the 1930s. Up until the 1950s, the co-ops...

...In recent years, American shoppers have become more conscious of their food choices and have increasingly turned to CSAs, farmers' markets, organic foods in supermarkets, and to joining and forming new food co-ops. In fact, food co-ops have been a viable food source, as well as a means...

...This chapter focuses on the Ithaca Consumer Co-operative Society (ICCS) in Ithaca, New York. The ICCS had grown slowly and waited until it could afford to buy a store in the 1940s; and like many Depression-era food co-ops, its members were active in decision making, including what products to sell...

...This chapter points to Humboldt County in northern California, home of the Arcata Food Co-op. Like other new wave food co-ops, it was politically active—as evident in their boycotts, their decision to sell mostly local and organic foods, and their interests in workers' rights. By the late 1970s...

...This chapter discusses the Twin Cities' (Minneapolis–Saint Paul) food co-operatives. Many of these co-ops practiced participatory democracy through discussions, making decisions collectively, relying on workers' collectives, and refusing to incorporate. The Twin Cities food co-ops of the 1970s were...