Sustainable Food Practices: Exploring Alterity in a Rural Mediterranean Ethical Meatscape

Liana Simmons (), Giorgia Vici (), Silvia Vincenzetti, Valeria Polzonetti, Livio Galosi, Martina Quagliardi, Stefania Pucciarelli and Alessandra Roncarati
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Liana Simmons: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, KU Leuven, 3001 Leuven, Belgium
Giorgia Vici: School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino, Italy
Silvia Vincenzetti: School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino, Italy
Valeria Polzonetti: School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino, Italy
Livio Galosi: School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino, Italy
Martina Quagliardi: School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino, Italy
Stefania Pucciarelli: School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino, Italy
Alessandra Roncarati: School of Biosciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Camerino, 62032 Camerino, Italy

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 21, 1-15

Abstract: This paper explores the concept of alterity within “ethical” meat production and consumption, focusing on small-scale producers and consumers in a rural Mediterranean context. Drawing on a relational understanding of alterity as a process through which actors negotiate difference within capitalist foodscapes, the study examines how ethical commitments and socio-material practices co-produce what counts as “alternative.” Using qualitative interviews with producers of “ethical meat” and their consumers from a solidarity-based Alternative Food Network (AFN) in Le Marche (Italy), the paper investigates how producer–consumer relations, animal welfare, and ecological care are interlinked within an ethical meatscape. Despite differing perceptions of the AFN’s role, embodied exchanges and face-to-face trust emerge as key to sustaining ethical and environmentally conscious practices. By capturing the micro-social dynamics through which relational alterity is enacted, the paper contributes to debates on sustainable agri-food transitions and socio-environmental justice, showing how ethical and ecological outcomes are co-produced through human and more-than-human relations.

Keywords: sustainable agri-food systems; ethical meat systems; producer–consumer interactions; alternative food network; animal welfare; socio-ecological relations (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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