Normal food practices: negotiating the interaction among norms, practices, and food environments

This paper examines the dynamic interplay between norms, practices, and food environments through the concept of 'normal food practices'. Drawing on Georges Canguilhem's theory of vital norms and social practice theory, we distinguish between descriptive (common), evaluative (proper), and creative (norm-generating) dimensions of food practices. We argue that food-related behaviors are not only shaped by existing norms but also actively produce new ones in response to environmental, technological, and socio-political conditions. We develop three empirical case studies that illustrate how norms are negotiated and transformed: playful resistance to food restrictions in hotel quarantine, decolonial food growing in settler-colonial Australia, and contested norms of purity and care in automated food systems. These examples reveal how food practices mediate agency, belonging, and health, challenging disciplinary models of biopolitical governance. We conclude in arguing that normal food practices are not fixed but are continually enacted and reshaped through everyday actions, offering new possibilities for ethical and political engagement with food.