What is a food tribe and what is its role in the food revolution?What is a food tribe and what is its role in the food revolution?

Food tribes are the engaged, passionate, self-aware consumers who are confident enough to challenge convention in pursuit of better options for themselves and for others.

Picture for a moment any of the following food tribes: vegan, paleo, freegan, urban homesteader or biohacker. Maybe a stereotype comes to mind, or maybe an appreciation based upon a good understanding the values and beliefs of someone you know. Regardless of what picture came up, I hope to share an idea that may help shift the way you think of food tribes.

Food tribes are often innovators, problem solvers, disrupters, influencers, advocates, trend setters, entrepreneurs, opinionated and self-confident. They tend to be committed to, and guided by, strong values and beliefs, and often act as a broadcast-signal communicating the deepest values of the food revolution.

For the food revolution, food tribes can serve as a source of inspiration or an opportunity to understand and connect deeply to the values driving change in the industry both among the core change agents and among mainstream consumers and companies as well.

Food tribes are the engaged, passionate, self-aware consumers who are confident enough to challenge convention in pursuit of better options for themselves, the environment, animals and society. They have been leading the food movement for decades, sometimes quietly influencing those they love and their inner circles, others actively calling for and leading reform.

Many find their way to their tribe following a desire for something better a better way of being or living. Many are following ethical beliefs and a desire for a greater alignment between their beliefs and their way of living (and eating). Others are looking for a clear set of norms to help them navigate a landscape of unhealthy, unethical and unsustainable conventional food and lifestyle options that have become the norm in our country.

Through the process of adopting a lifestyle which works against cultural conventions, food tribe members need to rebuild their lives around food. As a result, they focus their efforts on building food into their lives and making it a priority, not just a requirement for survival. Regardless of their original motivations or the food tribe they belong to, tribe members usually become more self-aware and conscious of the impact food has on their well-being and on the well-being of others which are part of the food system (environment, animals and society).

Food tribes are important to understanding the food revolution and the changing food landscape. A food tribe is defined as a social group linked by a set of common values and beliefs which shape one's food and lifestyle choices. In most cases tribe values and beliefs are deeply held and often a defining characteristic of one's personal identity. Food tribes include:

They are an important and driving force of the food movement. While individually their numbers are small, together they create a large impact:

Today with trust in conventional food norms and companies at dramatic lows, and with the growing consumer awakening and role of higher-order values influencing consumer decision-making, food tribes, with their strong values and beliefs, provide mainstream consumers a source of information, food and lifestyle norms and inspiration.

An overlap in values across different food tribes is helping to create change in the food system. These commonly shared values unite otherwise very different food tribes include:

Regardless of your perspective (activist, entrepreneur, manufacturer, farmer, retailer, consumer, etc.) we all can learn something by studying the values and beliefs of food tribes. We don't need to adopt their way of living, but if we study them and listen openly we can be inspired, learn to empathize or work to better connect with the values reshaping the food movement.

How are you engaging different food tribes?