Critical food scholars have long noted that much of local food discourse in the US is underwritten by a deeply regressive agrarian imaginary that valorizes “small family farms” while erasing historical legacies of racism. In this paper, I examine one influential expression of the agrarian imaginary that I call the fantasy of “real food,” and illustrate how that discourse contributes to ongoing exclusions in farmers markets. Drawing on Lacanian psychoanalysis, I explain how the fantasy of real food positions white middle-class consumers to view themselves as protagonists in a romantic narrative of loss and recovery, in which their enlightened consumption practices precipitate the return of authentic social relations and connections to nature. I then trace the influence of this fantasy through a reading of selected popular media, and illustrate how the racist, classist, and patriarchal antipathies of the agrarian imaginary find legitimate expression in an alternate form as affectively charged moral and aesthetic commitments. Finally, I show how this fantasy logic makes both the exclusion of outsiders and the policing of farmers appear not only reasonable but morally righteous. I conclude by arguing that we cannot rely on the reflexivity of the privileged to deliver justice, no matter how well-meaning they may be, and suggest that we need new imaginaries and new narratives to guide our politics of consumption.

批判性食品学者长期以来一直指出，美国的大部分当地食品话语都受到一种深度倒退的农业想象的支持，这种想象在消除种族主义的历史遗产的同时使“小型家庭农场”增值。在本文中，我研究了我称之为“真正食物”的幻想的农业想象的一种有影响力的表达，并说明了这种话语如何导致农民市场的持续排斥。借鉴拉康的精神分析，我解释了真实食物的幻想如何使白人中产阶级消费者将自己视为失落与复苏的浪漫叙事中的主角，在这种叙事中，他们开明的消费实践促成了真实的社会关系和与自然联系的回归. 然后我通过阅读选定的流行媒体来追踪这种幻想的影响，并说明农业想象中的种族主义、阶级主义和父权制的反感如何以另一种形式合法地表达为充满情感的道德和审美承诺。最后，我展示了这种幻想逻辑如何使排斥外来者和监管农民不仅合情合理，而且在道德上是正义的。最后，我认为我们不能依赖特权者的反身性来伸张正义，无论他们多么善意，并建议我们需要新的想象和新的叙事来指导我们的消费政治。我展示了这种幻想逻辑如何使排斥外来者和监管农民不仅合情合理而且在道德上是正义的。最后，我认为我们不能依赖特权者的反身性来伸张正义，无论他们多么善意，并建议我们需要新的想象和新的叙事来指导我们的消费政治。我展示了这种幻想逻辑如何使排斥外来者和监管农民不仅合情合理而且在道德上是正义的。最后，我认为我们不能依赖特权者的反身性来伸张正义，无论他们多么善意，并建议我们需要新的想象和新的叙事来指导我们的消费政治。