Food Regimes Revisited: A New Zealand Perspective

‘Food Regimes’ was coined by Friedmann and McMichael in 1989 and provided a organising framework for a considerable amount of Australian and New Zealand research during a period of economic restructuring and ‘deregulation’. Subsequently Food regimes were overtaken by other perspectives in New Zealand and elsewhere including an interest in commodity productions chains, regulation, post-productivist landscapes, and post structural political economy. More recently McMichael has reintroduced Food Regimes to his analysis. The paper will compare and contrast McMichael’s earlier and more recent engagements with Food Regimes. The export meat, the dairy, and pip fruit industries of Zealand it will be used to illustrate points about the timing, boundaries and margins as well as the transformation of Food Regimes. Finally the paper will attempt to connect the more recent focus on commodity chain analysis and post productivist landscapes with McMichael’s renewed interest in food Regimes.