This article discusses the ways in which Taiwanese utilized rice as a cultural symbol in anti-globalization movements. Analyzing the period from 1960 to 2015, it distinguishes among three phases: the internationalization phase (1960–83); the globalization phase (1984–2003); and the anti-globalization phase (2004–15). There are two main focuses of concern. First, have Taiwanese dietary habits, represented by rice, their main staple food, changed as a result of cultural encounters created by processes of internationalization, globalization, and anti-globalization? Second, what are the unique characteristics of Taiwan's anti-globalization movements in the context of food justice movements around the world? My research results indicate that Taiwan's anti-globalization campaigns are unique because of their development through large-scale organized social movements and their prominent use of symbolism and performance arts, leading to the birth of far-reaching public discourses and public values. However, possibly as a result of historical factors, discourse about issues of social justice and equality is relatively absent from local food network initiatives in Taiwan.

As popular interest in food and agriculture has grown, so have an array of social movements intent on improving the ways we grow, raise, process, sell, and consume our sustenance. While scholars tend to agree with activists’ critical assessments of the failures of the industrial, corporate, chemically intensive food system, they often wonder whether the sustainable, local alternatives that activists recommend are sufficient for broad social transformation. Two scholarly critiques of US alternative food systems revolve around issues of food justice, meaning the ways that race, class, and gender affect who can produce and consume what kinds of foods, and neoliberalism, which refers to activists’ privileging of voluntary, market-centric strategies over those that appeal to the regulatory power of the state. This paper lays out three strategies through which the work of US food justice activists can address both critiques. These include cooperative ownership, organizing labor, and pushing to outlaw risky technologies. However, rather than being at odds with the alternative foods market, each strategy makes use of it as a venue from which to draw targeted support.