Food-regime(s) at a crossroad: The future of present and future of Danish food

Food production and consumption in Denmark stands at a crossroad. Multiple conflicting developments and logic point in radically different directions, and the pressures of globalization are making the tensions even more present and solutions more pressing. Danish agriculture has excelled in creating an industrialized foodregime, based on Northern European values of hygiene and homogeneity. Yet, pressures of global competition, consumer trends focusing on quality and uniqueness, and issues of animal welfare and disease control are questioning this logic. On the other hand, Nordic food and Nordic chefs are enjoying somewhat more than fifteen minutes of fame with a new interpretation of Nordic produce in combination with state of the art cooking techniques. Yet, the New Nordic food trend emphasizes the uniqueness of local Nordic terroirs and presses for less industrialized production, in a manner not entirely unlike the organics movement. Optimistic policy makers dream of food as a new export success for Denmark, yet this seems to entail a transformation of the traditional food production in Denmark. Finally, local and grassroots inspired food producers are beginning to take matters into their own hands. Creating localized food systems with direct contact with costumers, mostly bypassing, but occasionally integrating with supermarkets based distribution.
In this presentation we will discuss the present fragmentation of the food-regime in Denmark, focusing on the conflicting tensions of localization-globalization, craftsmanship-industrialization, homogeneity-uniqueness, mass-niche, optimization-environmentalism etc. We also sketch what we believe to be the promising development and potential challenges for food production and consumption in Denmark.