Introduction

Abstract

Place matters. It continues to be one of the primary social constants defining the distribution of standards of living and quality of life around the world. While place carries with it some conceptual baggage, there is mounting empirical evidence that zip code, county, country, and continent determine positional status in the world food crisis. Place plays a leading role in the story of what shapes our lives largely because of its intimate interplay with food and food-practices. Notwithstanding the broad distinctions between developed and undeveloped/underdeveloped food systems around the world, place continues to create barriers in the production and consumption of food for the world’s populations. Even at the local level, as highlighted in the New York Times article “Our Coming Food Crisis” (G. Nabhan, July 21, 2013), place matters when climate changes, and farmers are forced to adapt their production strategies to accommodate dramatic shifts in temperature and rainfall.