About Thoughtful Foods

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Thoughtful Foods is a volunteer-run co-operative. We sell minimally packaged, ethically produced, non-genetically modified and affordable whole foods and household products to the UNSW community and beyond.

Thoughtful Foods general information and history

The food co-op movement

Co-operatives are organisational and business enterprises with their own legal structure, and are defined as “an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural aspirations though a jointly-owned and democratically controlled enterprise” (International Co-operative Alliance, 1995) (Co-operative Federation of Victoria, 2006; Sommer,1982). Many types of co-operatives exist and they are characterised by participatory ownership and control, democratic structure and the use of capital for mutual collective benefit rather than individual gain (ASEN Food Co-op Working Group, 2007; Co-operative Federation of Victoria, 2006; Groves, 1985; Radford and Keenan, 1988; Togerson et al., 1997).

This research shows they are owned and controlled by members, having a co-operative difference because they are democratic, participatory, open, voluntary and community-based. Co-operation provides strength by bringing people with mutual aims and interests together, pooling energy, time and resources to effect change for a common benefit, providing space for sharing and learning new skills, empowering people, building capacity and creating community (ASEN Food Co-op Working Group, 2007; Co-operative Federation of Victoria, 2006; Groves, 1985; Radford and Keenan, 1988; Togerson et al., 1997).

Co-operatives are also a means of organising and are a process not just an outcome: a co-operative is about and is its members. Food co-operatives are a not-for-profit political form of autonomous organising based on decentralised, participatory democracy not a centralised hierarchy, and they form part of Hassanein's (2003) ‘food democracy’ because they practice a pragmatic, progressive politics of transformation in actively reshaping and regaining control over the food system (ASEN Food Co-op Working Group, 2007; Radford and Keenan, 1988).

As alternatives to the globalised, transnational corporate food system and supermarkets, they represent alternative types of social and economic units forming an under-researched part of the alternative food movement (Sommer, 1982) and as examples of Hassanein's (2003) ‘food democracy’ are highly suitable for exploring the tensions and contradictions between different buying principles.

Most co-operative and food co-operative literature is international and Appendix 3 summaries the 41 papers examined, detailing each study’s focus, co-operative type and key findings of food co-operative based studies. Over half concern co-operatives generally (10 papers), agricultural producer co-operatives (3), workers co-operatives (1) or consumer co-operatives (7) and are not food co-operative specific. Themes emerging from these studies include

1) Introduction to co-operatives, co-operative philosophy and theory, co-operative structure, the co-operative movement’s history (Fairbairn, 2003, 2004; Groves, 1985; Seipel and Hefferman, 1997; Togerson et al., 1997; Voorhis, 1977; Zeuli and Cropp, 2004)

2) Creation and growth of consumer co-operatives and comparison with producer co-operatives (Hall and Hall, 1982; Hepburn, 2002, 2005; Sommer et al., 1984; Voorhis, 1977; Zeuli and Cropp, 2004);

3) Co-operative education (Chamard et al., 2005); and

4) History, trends and characteristics of the Australian co-operative movement (Barrackett, 2001; Lyons, 2001c; Passey, 2004, 2005; Sexton, 1983; Wickremarachchi, 2003; Wickremarachchi and Passey, 2003)