Introduction: Power of Sustainability and Promises of the Culture of Responsibility

The introductory chapter is organised around three basic areas: firstly, food has significant political and economic dimensions the model of integral sustainable development. Despite the global profitability of the food system, the challenges of food (in)security are important topics at the global and local levels. Secondly, we provide an overview of food and the practice of food preparation and consumption through socio-cultural lenses, with a special emphasis on the class and gender dimension, which includes feminist analyses but also analyses from the fields of men’s studies and queer studies. Food is an important part of popular culture as well as different media landscapes. In addition to the social and cultural dimensions, sustainability issues, as well as food are visible in the media, but they are not sufficiently developed in the field of public relations. This edited volume contributes to knowledge from a communication and public relations perspective and tries to shed light on the important role of communication and public relations in fostering a culture of responsibility in food consumption and sustainability generally. This introduction situates the book in a wider sustainability debate, taking into consideration works produced in multiple fields, such as sociology, cultural studies, and policy changes. We see food as communication and argue that food issues should be communicated whenever possible and that public relations has an important role in fostering a culture of responsibility at both societal and organisational levels.