Food consumption in the commodified city. Two cases in Sao Paulo (Brazil)

This article proposes the analysis of the relationship between urbanization and food marketing in Sao Paulo (Brazil) using two case studies: The Municipal Market of Pinheiros and the wholesaler market. Both are located in strategic areas of the city and, therefore, are places of interest to the real estate market and the private sector, which managed to intervene these spaces through urban instruments. The theoretical framework integrates globalization, the social production of space, the commodification of the city and food consumption. In this context, the research looks for the main impacts of the social production of the space of Sao Paulo on urban food supply. This article proposes that those impacts are manifested in new food marketing models, in the food consumption culture, in the inequality of access to food and to the city, and in an imbalance between country and city. Through a primarily qualitative methodology, it was possible to confirm the hypothesis and conclude that urbanization affects the commercialization of food by treating the city and food as merchandise.