In a previous blog post, Hanna and Evianna position REKO as an alternative post-growth marketplace “characterized by unique production and consumption practices”. Inspired by this perspective and the broader discussion of local food systems (LFSs) as alternatives, I propose in this blog post that REKO can be understood as a specific form of worlding.
It is well established that the industrialized and globalized food production significantly contributes to climate change, accounting for a substantial portion of global carbon emissions (e.g., Crippa et al., 2021). While global and local food systems often entangle, local systems like REKO typically involve practices that care for biodiversity, ecosystems, animals, soil, and other elements essential to a livable planet. In this way, they may offer alternatives to conventional, industrialized food production.
The notion of worlding, rooted in anthropology and post-colonial theory, suggests that our practices are not neutral but actively participate in making reality (Otsuki et al., 2018). This includes the most mundane quotidian things we do and choices we make, such as biking or taking the car, buying ecological or conventional milk. While worlding implies that the world is multiple (Law, 2015), post-colonial thinkers have emphasized how hegemonic, naturalized worlds can limit our ability to imagine and enact alternative worlds (Otsuki et al., 2018).
In the realm of food production and consumption, industrialized farming and the domination of a few large food suppliers (in Denmark: Salling group and Coop Danmark) that primarily offer non-local and non-ecological food present significant barriers to alternative food worldings. Cultivating alternative worldings often requires a heightened attunement and awareness to the world and an intentionality – a deliberate effort to see and act differently. These practices can be demanding: small-scale and regenerative farmers, for instance, frequently struggle to sustain their livelihood, and consumers seeking ecological or local food may face limited access and higher costs.
REKO is an alternative marketplace also in this sense; by offering a sales avenue and access to local food, it becomes a space where local producers and consumers can world differently. While challenging the global food system may not be the primary reason for participating, involvement in REKO inevitably contributes to doing so – however subtly or indeterminate. Even if these actions do not feel transformative in the moment, “social change can be accomplished incrementally” (Bertilsson & Egan-Wyer, 2025) through “small wins” (Weick, 1984). Each engagement in REKO thus aids in cultivating an alternative world – one small win at a time.
by Emma Christensen
References
Bertilsson, J., & Egan-Wyer, C. (2025). Envisioning postgrowth marketing: A dystopian-optimist’s guide. Marketing Theory, 1-17.
Crippa, M., Solazzo, E., Guizzardi, D., Monforti-Ferrario, F., Tubiello, F. N., & Leip, A. (2021). Food systems are responsible for a third of global anthropogenic GHG emissions. Nature Food, 2, 198-209.
Law, J. (2015). What’s wrong with a one-world world? Distinktion: Scandinavian Journal of Social Theory, 16(1), 126-139.
Otsuki, G. J., Satsuka, S., Omura, K., & Morita, A. (2018). Introduction. The world multiple. The quotidian politics of knowing and generating entangled worlds (pp. 1-17). Routledge.
Weick, K. E. (1984). Small wins: redefining the scale of social problems. American Psychologist 39(1), 40–49. http://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.39.1.40