{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.022172949002217297, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0, 'mean_word_length': 5.447619047619048, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Producing Markets, Producing People

Abstract In the context of rising rates of metabolic disorders and global attention to the “obesity epidemic” in Oceania, public health in Samoa tends to focus on multi-sectoral efforts to increase vegetable consumption and production. To understand better what non-health officials thought about food environments and health, we sought out a group of food actors (food trade and agricultural entrepreneurs, distributors, producers and food policy practitioners) who were actively creating a “healthier” food environment in Samoa. They posited that the market was both the problem with, and the solution to, the “obesity epidemic.” These food actors positioned themselves as social entrepreneurs or, more aptly, as altruistic capitalists, who aimed to transform the food environment by fixing the market, a practice they felt would in turn produce healthier and more prosperous Samoans. We argue that while alternative food movements in the global north tend to link local production with local consumption, Samoan food actors have focused on local production as a way to provide Samoans with financial prosperity, which in turn would provide opportunities for healthier consumption. This article is based on qualitative interviews with food actors and an ethnography of food, public health and development in Samoa.