Alternative Food Networks in Thessaloniki: Does sustainability go through the stomach?

An increasing concentration of power in the production and distribution of agri-food products, the intense implications of climate change on the agricultural production, the income reduction of farmers and in particular small producers, food insecurity, modern dietary patterns and food waste are some of the crucial questions and challenges involved in the agri-food issue today that render necessary a sustainable transformation of the agri-food system. This entry focuses on bottom-up Alternative Agri-Food Networks that take action in the Metropolitan Area of Thessaloniki (such as cooperative grocery stores, urban and peri-urban gardening, markets without middlemen), as well as on the practices, trends and directions that emerge from their operation and promote a sustainable management of the aforementioned questions. Challenges involved in the above issues are also examined.