“We Know What We Eat”: The Family Garden and Working Class Food Habits
This ethnographic survey carried out among working class populations from rural backgrounds and living in cities sheds light on the main features of working class relatively unknown food habits taking place in family gardens. Trying to be as close as possible to the interviewees’ experiences (« at least, we know what we eat »), this article focuses on different kind of production and consumption practices from inherited/updated gardening practices to the consumption of the products grown in their own garden. In particular, this paper examines their meanings, depending on the constraints they face and the ressources available to them (response to a thight budget, pleasure of eating your own vegetables, nutritious food and ethic of convivial indulgence). It points out the social groups from which the gardeners try to differentiate themselves in a practical more than in an ostentatious way.