Organic consumption and consumer participation in food community networks

Due to improvements in welfare, new food consumption concerns have emergedin Europe. Such concerns go beyond issues related to food safety andmarket prices. Solidarity Purchasing Groups (GASs) are one way to combineutilitarian and ethical aspects: in these groups the trade in organic productspredominates. The aim of GAS groups is to primarily develop a local economywhich is both ethical and fair, providing networks of economic solidaritythrough social relations and economic-territorial districts. This paper sets outto determine the profiles of the consumer groups that constitute GASs in Sicily(southern Italy) in order to search for key elements of the movement in termsof both community networks and organic consumption.