I Never Promised You a Learning Garden Critical Reflections on the Ill-Timed Launch and Uncertain Future of a Fast Food Outreach Project in Orlando, Florida

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Ty Matejowsky

Abstract

In this article, I consider the complexities and contradictions that characterize the recent launch of a Chipotle Mexican Grill community outreach project in Orlando, Florida from both a reflexive and autoethnographic perspective. I document a local gardening advocate’s efforts to develop and operate a chain-affiliated learning garden near the campus of the University of Central Florida (UCF) where I work as an Associate Professor of Anthropology.


Paying attention to the challenges that have beset the collaboration, this work deepens current understanding about new directions in community and urban gardening. It similarly probes the efficacy of these local approaches. The findings presented provide insights into what happens when corporate fast food aligns itself with local food interests as a form of public outreach. They help unpack discursive dimensions that characterize ethical food consumption amid the foregrounding of individual agency and neoliberal solutions to food issues related to the public good.

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Lead Essays