At the ’living food’ market

This article examines the emergence of an alternative market centred on vegan raw foodism, a controversial diet frequently criticized for its pseudoscientific underpinnings and potential for sectarian abuses. Through a mixed-methods investigation combining online and offline research, we demonstrate how advocates of ’living food’ often converted after personal ’healing’ experiences, professionalize their knowledge by merging epistemic entrepreneurship with commercial strategies. Three distinct generations of influencers have emerged: the pioneers, self-taught figures legitimized by books and talks; the transmitters, who leverage social media to monetize pre-existing communities; and the career changers, trained in private institutions and deeply reliant on digital platforms. Despite a rhetoric of ’returning to nature’, these businesses depend on a dual process of ’scientification’ (home experiments, selective references to biology) and ’technicalization’ (specialized appliances, rare ingredients), revealing an alternative vision of modernity. Ultimately, the article interrogates how counter- knowledge is constructed and circulated within economic niches, navigating the tension between criticizing legitimate institutions and adopting their own codes.