Sexton Alexandra E
Oxford Martin School University of Oxford Oxford, OX1 3BD UK and Department of Geography University of Sheffield Sheffield, S3 7ND UK.
Econ Geogr. 2020 Oct 19;96(5):449-469. doi: 10.1080/00130095.2020.1834382. Epub 2020 Nov 18.
This article examines the role of place-specifically the place of Silicon Valley in California-in the emerging economic geographies of alternative proteins (APs), including cellular and plant-based substitutes. Drawing on original fieldwork data and existing economic geography debates on food, place, and innovation, I develop the concept of to examine the key role Silicon Valley has played in shaping the spatial trajectories and political possibilities of the AP sector. I first illustrate the power of Silicon Valley's place-myth in (re)producing the importance for AP founders to be in place within the region, in part to access its renowned industrial resources but also to provide a protective niche of credibility and credulity for these nascent ventures. Second, I outline that to be there in spatial terms has also involved an encountering with a specific culture of logics and practices of the tech-noindustrial region of Silicon Valley. To succeed at doing protein food in this region has required a choice by AP ventures to become in place and thereby reimagine food through the Valley's image of high-tech entrepreneurial innovation; in short, it has required food to become software. This exploration of cultural emplacement builds directly on recent work in geography and related fields on alternative food economies, geographies of innovation, and the ontological politics of APs. It offers timely contributions for considering how AP development might be done otherwise and what it means to look to Silicon Valley for solutions to global food security and broader planetary challenges.
本文探讨特定地点——尤其是加利福尼亚州的硅谷——在替代蛋白质（APs）新兴经济地理格局中的作用，替代蛋白质包括细胞基和植物基替代品。借鉴原始实地调查数据以及经济地理学中关于食物、地点和创新的现有辩论，我提出了“文化嵌入”这一概念，以审视硅谷在塑造APs行业的空间轨迹和政治可能性方面所发挥的关键作用。我首先阐述了硅谷地点神话在（重新）塑造APs创始人在该地区立足的重要性方面的影响力，部分原因是为了获取其著名的产业资源，同时也为这些新兴企业提供一个具有可信度和轻信度的保护性小众领域。其次，我概述了从空间角度而言，身处此地还意味着要接触硅谷科技产业区特定的逻辑文化和实践。在这个地区成功开展蛋白质食品业务，APs企业需要做出选择，在当地落地生根，从而通过硅谷高科技创业创新的形象来重新构想食物；简而言之，就是要让食物变成软件。这种对文化嵌入的探索直接建立在地理学及相关领域近期关于替代食品经济、创新地理学和APs本体政治的研究基础之上。它为思考如何以其他方式推动APs发展，以及向硅谷寻求全球粮食安全和更广泛的地球挑战解决方案意味着什么提供了及时的贡献。
