Mainstreaming in the Kitchen: the Far-Right Food Politics of Forum for Democracy

Scholars have argued that far-right ideology in recent years has become mainstreamed not only by means of the growing popularity of radical right political parties in Europe, but also through subcultural trends aimed at the superficial ‘softening’ of nativism and authoritarianism. Building on a theoretical framework focused on the emergence of far-right movement-parties, and literature on gastronativism/populism, this paper explores the ways in which Dutch far right party Forum for Democracy (FvD) utilizes ‘gastropolitics’ – mobilization around the topic of food, for both ideological and strategic purposes. Methodologically, it presents a multi-modal thematic analysis of FvD’s social media communication and the food distribution box service ‘Eerlijk Eten’, co-founded and owned by prominent FvD politicians. The findings show that FvD utilize food politics as a vehicle of political communication to promote their nativist, authoritarian, and populist ideology, by infusing conspiratorial topes with ‘everyday’ social rituals and practices around food. Moreover, the party makes use of food as a movement-building strategy, by organizing events and activities that forge a shared experience and identity around food, and through the marketing and monetization of their own food-related products and services.