Cultural studies: food and society Books

Book SynopsisOur future diet will be shaped by diverse forces. It will be shaped by novel technologies and the logic of globalisation, by geopolitical tensions and the evolution of cultural preferences, by shocks to the status quo - pandemics and economic strife, the escalation of the climate and ecological crises - and by how we choose to respond. It will also be shaped by our emotions. It will be shaped by the meat paradox.''Should we eat animals?'' was, until recently, a question reserved for moral philosophers and an ethically minded minority, but it is now posed on restaurant menus and supermarket shelves, on social media and morning television. The recent surge in popularity for veganism in the UK, Europe and North America has created a rupture in the rites and rituals of meat, challenging the cultural narratives that sustain our omnivory.In The Meat Paradox, Rob Percival, an expert in the politics of meat, searches for the evolutionary origins of the meat paradox, asking wTrade ReviewIn all the best ways, The Meat Paradox complicates the ongoing debate between omnivores and herbivores. It's a funny, reverent reminder that meat has always been central to our story as a society. -- Dan Barber, author of The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of FoodHow can humans simultaneously love animals and love to eat them? In The Meat Paradox, Rob Percival takes on this question, combining great story telling with the latest findings in fields ranging from psychology and neuroscience to anthropology and moral philosophy. Whether you are an omnivore, a vegetarian, or a vegan, this book is a page turner that will spin your head around. -- Hal Herzog, author of Some We Love, Some We Hate, Some We Eat: Why It’s So Hard to Think Straight About AnimalsPassionate, sophisticated, urgently important and compulsively readable. Percival's enquiry dives into deep time, into other dimensions and ranges across the continents in a search not only for our relationship with meat, but our relationship with ourselves. It's an exhilarating and salutary record of our stuttering conversation with the non-human world, and a robust interrogation of our whole way of being. -- Charles Foster, author of Being a Human and Being a BeastThe Meat Paradox is utterly brilliant, in the range of its erudition, the power of its argument, its revelatory profundity and its compelling storytelling. -- Jay Griffiths, author of Why RebelA fearless exploration of the question that has shaped human evolution and could determine whether we survive as a species into the future: Should we eat animals? Making an important contribution to the debate that goes deep into the question of whether we humans evolved to be omnivores, The Meat Paradox asks whether we should continue eating meat in the face of the climate catastrophe. Percival takes a detailed look at the history and the arguments and ultimately answers the question of how to be an 'ethical omnivore'. -- Louise Gray, author of The Ethical Carnivore: My Year Killing to EatAn even-handed and nuanced exploration of our deeply complex moral relationships with other animals, The Meat Paradox is a compelling journey into the evolutionary past, potential future, and conflicted psyche of the planet's most dangerous and empathetic predator: us. -- Tovar Cerulli, author of The Mindful Carnivore: A Vegetarian’s Hunt for SustenanceIn searching for the answers to a complicated question, this beautifully written book will take you to some unexpected and fascinating places. Written by someone who clearly cares deeply about animals and our planet, it provides much needed nuance in an often polarized debate. -- Tobias Leeneart, author of How to Create a Vegan World: a Pragmatic ApproachBrilliantly provocative, original, electrifying -- Bee Wilson * Financial Times *It's very much worth a read * Times Radio *The Meat Paradox is a fascinating book, part cultural history of meat, part manifesto, part pilgrimage. Percival is a gifted writer, marshalling evidence, weaving together interviews and offering descriptions that at times verge on the poetic. * Sunday Times *In this fascinating must-read for anyone interested in understanding and addressing exactly why morally troublesome behaviours vanish into the commonplace and every day, Percival grippingly guides the reader through the psychological complexity of our challenges, finding a middle ground in the debate and helping people decide where they may sit in the midst of it all. * Bristol Mag *[This] provocative book presents a challenge that most haven't even begun to confront - and few are ready to meet. * Guardian *Impressively nuanced * The Week *Rob Percival delves into our carnivorous history and culture and examines its deep connection to the human psyche. It's an erudite and entertaining excavation, but it also brings us to the present, prompting us to ask what relationship to animals, both wild and domesticated, we should choose now, in a warming world where very few of us need meat to survive. It's one of the big questions of our age, and Percival compellingly insists we mustn't shrink from it. * Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall *Rob Percival does for meat what David Graeber did for debt, drawing on a wealth of knowledge about the ways that humans have made life work in different times and places to redraw the lines of today's ethical debate. Fascinating and unsettling, this is a book about how we became what we are - and where we go from here. * Dougald Hine, co-founder of the Dark Mountain Project *In searching for the answers to a complicated question, this beautifully written book will take you to some unexpected and fascinating places. Written by someone who clearly cares deeply about animals and our planet, it provides much needed nuance in an often polarized debate. * Tobias Leenaert, author of How to Create a Vegan World: a Pragmatic Approach *The Meat Paradox exposes the deeply complex and haunting relationship we have with the animals we eat. As a livestock farmer, I've considered this as much as I've dared, but Rob opens the paradox to unblinking scrutiny. The meat debate is one of the most contested raging in the world at the moment, with opposing camps waging war. Rob demolishes the propaganda on both sides, and having exposed the paradox, refuses to provide a pat solution. This is an existential issue which demands that we consider deeply but perhaps can never fully resolve. * Helen Browning, author of Pig: Tales from an Organic Farm *An even-handed and nuanced exploration of our deeply complex moral relationships with other animals, The Meat Paradox is a compelling journey into the evolutionary past, potential future, and conflicted psyche of the planet's most dangerous and empathetic predator: us. * Tovar Cerulli, author of The Mindful Carnivore: A Vegetarian’s Hunt for Sustenance *

Read more less

Book SynopsisThrough an interdisciplinary approach that shows how food can reflect a culture and time, this book whets the appetite of students for further research into history, anthropology, geography, sociology, and literature.Food is a great unifier. It is used to mark milestones or rites of passage. It is integral to the way we celebrate, connecting a familial and cultural past to the present through tradition. It bolsters the ill and soothes those in mourning. The dishes in this text are those that have come to be known within a part of the world and culture, but also have moved beyond those borders and are accessible and enjoyed by many in our ever-smaller and more-interconnected world.Featuring more than 100 recipes and detailed discussions of dishes from across the globe, Global Dishes: Favorite Meals from around the World explores the history and cultural context surrounding some of the best-known and favorite foods. The book covers national dishes from more than 100 countriTable of ContentsList of Entries List of Sidebars Preface Acknowledgments Introduction The Entries Africa and the Middle East Americas Asia Europe Oceania Selected Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisExploring the rich and varied culinary traditions of China, this book enables a better understanding of Chinese history and culture through food.Part of Bloomsbury's Global Kitchen series, this book takes readers on a food tour of China, covering everything from daily staples to holiday specialties. In addition to discovering China's long culinary history, you'll learn about recent trends, foreign influences, and contemporary food and dietary concerns, such as obesity and environmental sustainability.Chapters are organized thematically, making it easy to focus in on particular courses or types of dishes. For those hungry for a more hands-on approach, each chapter includes a collection of accessible recipes that allow readers to bring the subject to life in their own kitchens. The main text is supplemented by sidebars that offer interesting bite-sized facts, a chronology of important dates in China's culinary history, and a glossary of key food- and dining-related tTable of ContentsSeries Foreword Acknowledgements Introduction Chronology 1. Food History 2. Influential Ingredients 3. Appetizers and Side Dishes 4. Main Dishes 5. Desserts 6. Beverages 7. Holidays and Special Occasions 8. Street Food and Snacks 9. Dining Out 10. Food Issues and Dietary Concerns Glossary Selected Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisChicago began as a frontier town on the edge of white settlement and as the product of removal of culturally rich and diverse indigenous populations. The town grew into a place of speculation with the planned building of the Illinois and Michigan canal, a boomtown, and finally a mature city of immigrants from both overseas and elsewhere in the US. In this environment, cultures mixed, first at the taverns around Wolf Point, where the forks of the Chicago River join, and later at the jazz and other clubs along the Stroll in the black belt, and in the storefront ethnic restaurants of today. Chicago was the place where the transcontinental railroads from the West and the trunk roads from the East met. Many downtown restaurants catered specifically to passengers transferring from train to train between one of the five major downtown railroad stations. This also led to destination restaurants, where Hollywood stars and their onlookers would dine during overnight layovers between trains. At Trade ReviewIn so many diverse ways, Chicago is America’s heart. The nation’s waterways, railroads, highways, and air corridors converge on the city by the lake. Since the middle of the nineteenth century, Chicago has played a key role in food distribution throughout the nation. Its notorious stockyards and its massive grain storage towers moved the heartland’s bounty to the coasts and around the world. Immigrants brought their foodways, making the city a melting pot for every world cuisine. Block and Rosing document economic and cultural forces that have made the city a top destination for everyday eaters and earnest gourmets. They inventory unique creations beyond Chicago pizza and other native dishes, illustrating how the city’s cooks have influenced all of America, redefining Italian, Greek, and Mexican cuisine as well as manufacturing grain products, candy, and even popcorn. Through its stellar chefs, Chicago has lately revolutionized restaurant dining. Casual readers and scholars will both find something to savor here. * Booklist *You don't need anybody to tell you Chicago is a food city or to extol the virtues of chicken Vesuvio, deep dish pizza, a jibarito, South Side rid tips or a Vienna Beef hot dog (on a poppy seed bun, of course). Perhaps less well known is how Chicago's cuisine developed, or how the city became the first modern industrial food center, both of which are explored in Chicago: A Food Biography by Daniel R. Block and Howard Rosing. * Chicago Tribune *This book is a well-documented text written by two professors, Daniel Block (Chicago State University) and Howard Rosing (DePaul University), not a gossipy tell-all tale packed with juicy tidbits and anecdotes. In short, the book is both interesting and well worth reading. * ChicagoNow *Everyone is likely to learn something about Chicago food from this book, which has clear documentation and an impressive bibliography.... Given the wide scale of the historical and geographical approach in this volume, a reader who is looking for an overview of aspects of food in Chicago may find it useful to start here. * Digest: A Journal of Foodways & Culture *On Chicago’s South Side, hot dog stands sell ‘mother-in-law’ sandwiches, an American tamale in a hot dog bun with all the fixings. In other neighborhoods, Mexican green and red tamales are sold on street corners and in late night bars, still warm and accompanied by salsa. In the early 1900s, Chicago tamales were quite different from those contemporary American or Mexican versions, made with cornmeal rather than masa and sold by African American men who brought the ‘Delta’ tamale north from its southern origins. Historical details such as these make Daniel R. Block and Howard B. Rosing’s Chicago: A Food Biography shine.... More than a culinary history tour ... the volume offers a fascinating view of the city’s food traditions via community engagement, as both authors are active in neighborhood development and experiential learning.... Certainly a must-read for any Chicagoland resident interested in local food systems, the volume is important on a broader scale, as a way of seeing historical research bolstered by social engagement. Chicagoans will be delighted to learn or be reminded of important details: That their city was once the Candy Capital of the World, the ‘jibarito’ Puerto Rican sandwich originated in Chicago and enormous Asian groceries exist just beyond city limits. But academics and community workers will benefit from seeing historical understandings inform present-day social and political conflicts that play out across the food system. Academics might utilize the volume in courses on community food systems or as an example of an urban historical narrative, as it lends itself to topical selections of chapters for course readings. Such a well-researched book creates opportunities for future urban histories that take up social engagement. We hope that Block and Rosing continue such work and that other authors follow. * Agriculture and Human Values *A fascinating food history of Chicago, revealing the reasons, many unexpected, why this city’s cuisine is so diverse and rich. An essential read for anyone interested in food and culinary history. -- Jennifer McLagan, the author of award winning Bitter:A Taste of the World's Most Dangerous Flavor, with RecipesAn interesting foray into Chicago's influence on food and food's influence on Chicago. -- Denese Neu, PhD, author of Chicago by the Pint: a Craft Beer History of the Windy CityAnyone interested in American food history must know a lot about the indispensable heart: Chicago. The nation’s historic food production and commodity distribution center, home to every ethnic food in America, Chicago always has been an innovative culinary center. How this came about is told in Block and Rosing’s well researched and engagingly written work. A complex story very well told, it is the best survey to date. -- Bruce Kraig, co-editor, Food City: The Encyclopedia of Chicago Food and Man Bites Dog: Hot Dog Culture in AmericaChicago: A Food Biography is as much a history of today’s industrial food system as a story of the evolving food culture of Chicago. While Chicago has been a melting pot for today’s food industry, the city has remained a veritable stew of ethnic cuisine. The book is a good read for anyone interested in food and a must read for anyone interested in both food and Chicago. -- John E. Ikerd, professor emeritus, University of Missouri ColumbiaChicago’s food traditions are no less towering than the skyscrapers that define its skyline. Deep-dish pizza and Chicago-style hot dogs loom large in the culinary landscape, as does the influence of Chicago chefs like Rick Bayless, Grant Achatz, and the late Charlie Trotter. In Chicago: A Food Biography, geographer Daniel R. Block and anthropologist Howard B. Rosing chronicle Chicago’s swift evolution from frontier town to food capital—a path paved by meat and corn, migration, and modern industrialization—and make a strong case for Chicago as the most American of cities. -- Meryl Rosofsky, MD, writer and adjunct professor of Food Studies, New York UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction 1: The Material Resources: Land, Water, and Air 2: Indigenous Foodways of Chicago 3: Migration and the Making of Chicago Foodways 4: Markets and Retail 5: From Frontier Town to Industrial and Commercial Food Capital 6: Eating at the Meeting Place: A Short History of Chicago's Restaurants 7: Chicago Street Food, Recipes, and Cookbooks

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn roughly one hundred years from the 1870s to the 1970s dining on trains began, soared to great heights, and then fell to earth. The founders of the first railroad companies cared more about hauling freight than feeding passengers. The only food available on trains in the mid-nineteenth century was whatever passengers brought aboard in their lunch baskets or managed to pick up at a brief station stop. It was hardly fine dining. Seeing the business possibilities in offering long-distance passengers comforts such as beds, toilets, and meals, George Pullman and other pioneering railroaders like Georges Nagelmackers of Orient Express fame, transformed rail travel. Fine dining and wines became the norm for elite railroad travelers by the turn of the twentieth century. The foods served on railroads from consommé to turbot to soufflé, always accompanied by champagne - equaled that of the finest restaurants, hotels, and steamships. After World War II, as airline travel and automobiles becaTrade ReviewFood on the Rails is the first book in the 'Food on the Go' series, part of a larger Rowman and Littlefield series, 'Studies in Food and Gastronomy.' The aim of the former is to publish books exploring the history of foods eaten while traveling. The book is a good introduction to the history and development of dining on trains, beginning with early train travel and the disappointing food experiences of travelers in the 19th century and the development of the Pullman dining car (the first of its kind) to the 'golden age' of railroad dining in the early decades of the 20th century in the US and Europe. Freelance author/journalist Quinzio details the decline not only of fine dining on trains but also train travel itself with some brief discussions on the small renaissance of high-end train travel today. Readers will be intrigued to learn the details of how dining cars were constructed and staffed and the types of foods served throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Each chapter ends with a representative recipe. Summing Up: Recommended. General and undergraduate food history collections. * CHOICE *In her latest work, Food on the Rails, The Golden Era of Railroad Dining, Jeri Quinzio draws in both railroad buffs and those with an interest in culinary history. From the crumbly dry sandwiches people ate on trains with tobacco spit soaked floors of the 1820s, to the grand cuisine served on 'la belle epoch’s' Orient Express and the puttering post war 'automat' microwaved dishes, to the death of railway food with the invention of commercial flight and Amtrak, this is a railroad story that inspires both disgust and delight. Food on the Rails, a magnificent work that tells the tale of food served at high speeds, will keep both train hobbyists and food scholars riveted.... Food on the Rails is a great read ... It is an extremely interesting work, and I would have enjoyed learning more about an age that so few of us living today have had the ability to experience.... Food on the Rails is a quick read, packed with information and stories which will expand the train buff’s interest to include the culinary history of the rail, and will introduce the culinary historian or foodways scholar to an area which might have been previously overlooked in their research. Even for someone interested in neither food nor trains, it is magnificent entry into the world of the mid-19th to mid-20th century, as every major event happening on the world stage is mentioned and viewed through the lens of the railways passenger, both patrician and plebian. * Digest: A Journal of Foodways & Culture *Food on the Rails: The Golden Era of Railroad Dining should be in any culinary history collection and many a train buff's library. It's the first book in the 'Food on the Go' series, joining others in this publisher's 'Studies in Food and Gastronomy' series, and it serves up an enticing course combining travel and train history with discussions of the special challenges involved in serving food on a moving vehicle. The details range from descriptions of food evolution to how dining cars were created, while the era of train dining is followed from its bare-bones beginnings to its opulent era and back again. Vintage black and white photos peppered throughout accompany a satisfying blend of rail and food preparation history which lends lively insights into the issues and evolution of train fare. * Donovan's Bookshelf *Jeri Quinzio has done it again! Her latest book, Food on the Rails, tells the lively tale of the rise and fall of haute (and not-so-haute) cuisine served on the world’s railways. It traces railroad dining from its less-than-stellar beginnings through the romantic culinary luxury of the Orient Express, 20th Century Limited, and the Blue Train, ending with the mundane snack bars of today. Food on the Rails is well researched, insightful, and a delight to read. For those interested in recreating some of the former culinary splendor and delicious cocktails of bygone days, Quinzio provides recipes and menus. -- Andrew F. Smith, culinary historianDrawing on numerous and varied sources—from scholarly works, to news reports, to firsthand accounts—Quinzio provides a thorough, refreshing, and entertaining account of the rise and fall of the rail dining experience in North America and Europe, illustrated with occasional recipes to highlight the story. -- James D. Porterfield, director of the Center for Railway Tourism, Davis & Elkins College; author of Dining by Rail: The History and Recipes of America's Golden Age of Railroad CuisineIn this lively social and cultural history, Jeri Quinzio evokes the glory days of rail travel in Europe and the United States, when dining cars served up multicourse meals on tables elegantly set with fine china, linens, and silver. She traces the evolution of railway dining from early 'hotel cars' to the grand dining cars that eventually gave way to scaled-down buffets. Each chapter ends with period recipes that capture the thrill of dining in motion, and along the way we get locomotive lessons in history and popular culture. Food on the Rails makes me want to book my next travel by train! -- Darra Goldstein, founding editor of GastronomicaIn Food on the Rails, Jeri Quinzio presents a lively history of the evolution of U.S. rail travels by describing food service, illustrated with menus and recipes that reflect different eras. How wonderful to be reminded of the golden age of railroad dining when travelers were served civilized meals in dining cars. This book will make the reader long for the time when travel was leisurely and filled with pleasure. -- Barbara Haber, food historian; author of From Hardtack to Home Fries: An Uncommon History of American Cooks and MealsTable of ContentsForeword Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter One: Dining Before the Dining Car Chapter Two: The Dining Car Debuts Chapter Three: Fine Dining on European Railroads Chapter Four: Transporting Restaurants Chapter Five: Streamlined Dining Chapter Six: The Golden—and Not So Golden—Era Chapter Seven: Endings and Beginnings Afterword: Take the Train Notes Bibliography Index About the Author

Read more less

Book SynopsisNearly every day brings news of another merger or acquisition involving the companies that control our food supply. Just how concentrated has this system become? At almost every key stage of the food system, four firms alone control 40% or more of the market, a level above which these companies have the power to drive up prices for consumers and reduce their rate of innovation. Researchers have identified additional problems resulting from these trends, including negative impacts on the environment, human health, and communities. This book reveals the dominant corporations, from the supermarket to the seed industry, and the extent of their control over markets. It also analyzes the strategies these firms are using to reshape society in order to further increase their power, particularly in terms of their bearing upon the more vulnerable sections of society, such as recent immigrants, ethnic minorities and those of lower socioeconomic status. Yet this study also shows that these trendTrade ReviewThe book is fun to read . . . and, obviously, well illustrated. If you want to know how current-day food markets really work, this is the place to start. -- Marion Nestle, NYU…this book is an excellent introductory text to food systems…Everything from the language and quotes Howard uses to the diversity of examples discussed makes Concentration and Power in the Food System an intense yet enjoyable read. Overall, this short book is packed with so much information and different points of discussion that it not only leaves readers impassioned, but also hungry for more. -- Kathleen Chiappetta * LSE Review of Books *This will clearly be a major touchstone in the critical food studies field...One of the great contributions of this book is that, in synthesizing the field so effectively, it sets into relief some of the most salient questions in food systems scholarship today. -- Amy Guptill, State University of New York, co-author of Food and Society[Concentration and Power in the Food System] is accessible to any reader interested in learning how political economy can help us understand who really does control what we eat. And as the food industry continues to consolidate, Howard’s work will become increasingly vital to imagining an economy with open, competitive markets for farmers and eaters alike. -- Leah Douglas * Washington Monthly *Howard provides an excellent introduction to the alarming lack of competition in today’s food production system. The fact that much of this food system concentration is intentionally behind the scenes—only a few companies own many brand names and operate through multiple subsidiaries—often renders the public unaware of this monopoly. The book begins with retailers and moves down through the food chain, with chapters devoted to distributors, processors, and finally, the farm. Additional chapters cover agricultural inputs such as seeds and pesticides, commodity pricing, and organic food production. Written in an academic yet eminently accessible style, the text is well researched and documented. Chapter references and a comprehensive index are at the end of the work. Points are illustrated with clear graphics and comprehensible tables. Current examples featuring larger, well-known corporations add to the text’s relevance and readability. Non-polemical and jargon-free, this is a concise and concerning look at the ever-increasing food system concentration in the US and the global food supply chain. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. * CHOICE *In a systematic and sophisticated manner grounded in political economy Concentration and Power in the Food System pulls back the curtain on the often hidden processes by which agribusiness employs its economic power to influence the state apparatus and thereby secure and advance its agenda to enhance market share and suppress resistance. … The book deftly documents how the processes of vertical, horizontal, and concentric integration expand the breadth and depth of agribusiness consolidation. -- Douglas H. Constance * Rural Sociology *The accessibility of the language, paired with rigorous analysis and sturdy methodology make Concentration and Power in the Food System a must-read for those who seek a better understanding of how corporations consolidate power in the food system. -- Lisa F. Clark * Cuizine *Howard has written an excellent book that is very informative. It is relevant also for the European reader, at least as a possible future scenario for the European agri-foodsystem. * Radix *Concentration and Power in the Food System challenges us to think about the broader consequences of corporate control over the food we eat ... excellent and engaging. * Global Environmental Politics *Table of Contents1. Food System Concentration: A Political Economy Perspective 2. Reinterpreting Antitrust: Retailing 3. Structuring Dependency: Distribution 4. Engineering Consumption: Packaged Foods and Beverages 5. Manipulating Prices: Commodity Processing 6. Subsidizing the Treadmill: Farming and Ranching 7. Enforcing the New Enclosures: Agricultural Inputs 8. Standardizing Resistance: The Organic Food Chain 9. Endgame? Notes References Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisWritten by one of the leading experts on food activism, this is the only independent, full-length study of the Slow Food movement. Slow Food is a grassroots organisation that embraces a slow way of life, linking the love of food with community and environmental support. Based on three years of ethnographic fieldwork inside Slow Food's international headquarters in Italy, Valeria Siniscalchi reveals what really goes on behind the scenes of this enigmatic organization. Observing daily meetings, decision-making processes, and major events, she explores the contradictions, complexities, and ambiguities of the movement as well as the passionate commitment of its employees, members, and leaders. Through talking to insiders and people who have broken' with Slow Food, Siniscalchi makes a major contribution to our understanding of one of the most high profile and controversial food movements in the world and to our knowledge of activist organizations more broadly. This is an essential Trade ReviewIn Slow Food: The Economy and Politics of a Global Movement, Valeria Siniscalchi trains her ethnographic lens on the largest and most renowned food activist organizations in the world. Siniscalchi offers a fascinating account of the politics of mobilizing producers, consumers, and policymakers around local, artisanal food. The book's appeal goes far beyond food studies, allowing us to accompany the organization from its early years as a loose alliance of local Italian chapters, to a complex global network advocating gastronomic biodiversity, with growing pains and ongoing debates over the core "food values" of Slow Food. * Krista Harper, Professor of Anthropology and Public Policy, University of Massachusetts, USA *Table of ContentsPreface 1. Negotiating Fieldwork: How to Study Food Activism? 2. From Politics to Gastronomy and Back: Where Did Slow Food Come From? 3. Power and Governance: How Is the World of Slow Food Governed? 4. Inside the Italian Association 5. Autonomy and Dependence: The Internationalization of Slow Food 6. The “Black Box”: How Does the Slow Food Machine Really Work? 7. Gastronomic Biodiversity: How Are the Environment and Food Connected? 8. Cheese Regulations: Political Battles and Economic Interests Inside the Presidia Project 9. Inclusion and Exclusion: The Political Taste of Slow Food 10. Politics at the Dinner Table and in the Vineyards 11. Real and Imagined Economies and Politics in Action: Terra Madre, Salone del Gusto, and Cheese 12. The Pragmatic Utopia of Food Activism: Coping with Ambiguity Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book Synopsis'A galloping journey through thousands of years of Chinese culinary history . . . a timely reminder that the country's modern cuisine is the delicious fruit of a rich, ancient and perhaps surprisingly multicultural tradition' FUCHSIA DUNLOP, SPECTATOR'A tasty portrait of a nation' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH'A splendid introduction to the complex history of China' GUARDIAN'A terrific read . . . Jonathan Clements writes with erudition and humour' DAILY MAIL'This book is itself a feast, each chapter a sumptuous course'Frederik L. Schodt, author of My Heart Sutra'Witty and insightful' Derek Sandhaus, author of Drunk in China****************The history of China - not according to emperors or battles, but according to its food and drink.The Emperor's Feast is the epic story of a nation and a people, told through one of its most fundamental pillars and successful exports: food. Following the journeys of different ingredients, dishes and eating habits over 5,000 years of history, author and presenter Jonathan Clements examines how China's political, cultural and technological evolution and her remarkable entrance onto the world stage have impacted how the Chinese - and the rest of the world - eat, drink and cook.We see the influence of invaders such as the Mongols and the Manchus, and discover how food - like the fiery cuisine of Sichuan or the hardy dishes of the north - often became a stand-in for regional and national identities. We also follow Chinese flavours to the shores of Europe and America, where enterprising chefs and home cooks created new traditions and dishes unheard of in the homeland.From dim sum to mooncakes to General Tso's chicken, The Emperor's Feast shows us that the story of Chinese food is ultimately the story of a nation: not just the one that history tells us, but also the one that China tells us about itself.Trade Review''Cleverly uses food - the part of Chinese culture with which many western people are most familiar - as a way of charting the complex history of China, a vast country made up of many peoples, cultures and cuisines . . . This is a splendid introduction to the cooking and history of China, filled with surprising details on the origins of many famous dishes' * Guardian *'A tasty portrait of a nation . . . Running through Clements' account is an insistence - smartly and subtly offered, and particularly welcome in our present straits - on the role food plays in binding family and friends together . . . There is something reassuring, even rather moving, about sitting down with others to eat and knowing that you are doing something that would be immediately and intimately familiar to people across countless cultures and generations' * Sunday Telegraph *'Clements' love for China's history and cuisine shines through in each chapter, with his evident passion making the book a consistently engaging read.' -- Tom Wilmot * Asian Movie Pulse *'Jonathan Clements' The Emperor's Feast is witty and insightful, taking readers on a journey through China's history from the comfort of the dinner table. It inverts the old maxim by convincingly demonstrating that people aren't just what they eat, but how they eat' -- Derek Sandhaus''This book is itself a feast, each chapter a sumptuous course - prepared by a gifted writer and linguist who can synthesize vast amounts of information on Chinese food and history, arrange it in a fascinating way, and spice it up with his own wisdom, wit, and experiences. In the end, his focus on Chinese food gives us a new lens through which we can also view the impossibly long, complex, and rich history of China itself.'' -- Frederik L. Schodt

Read more less

Book SynopsisAmerica's food system is broken, harming family farmers, workers, the environment, and our health. But it doesn't have to be this way. Here, brilliant innovators, scientists, journalists and activists explain how we can create a hopeful new future for food, if we have the courage to seize the moment.In 2008, the award-winning documentary Food, Inc. shook up our perceptions of what we ate. Now, the movie's timely sequel and this new companion book will address the remarkable developments in the world of food-from lab-grown meat to the burgeoning food sovereignty movement-that have unfolded since then.Featuring thought-provoking original essays from:Michael Pollan Eric Schlosser David E. Kelley and Andrew Zimmern Senator Cory Booker Sarah E. Lloyd Carlos A. Monteiro and Geoffrey Cannon Lisa Elaine Held Larissa Zimberoff Saru Jayaraman Christiana Musk Nancy Easton Leah Penniman David LeZaks and Lauren Manning The Coalition of Immokalee Workers Michiel Bakker Danielle NierenbergThis book is the perfect roadmap to understanding not only our current dysfunctional food system, but also what each of us can do to help reform it.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisFrom edible insects and lab-grown meat to industrial farming and freeganism, the future of food is the debate on everyone's lips. The need for change in our food systems-to secure a more sustainable, healthy and fair future-is recognized as a major global challenge. Food: Bigger Than The Plate engages with the work of artists, designers and food professionals who are examining key activities and relationships through food. It discusses diverse and creative ways to reimagine food waste, biodiversity, supply chains and social empowerment through the politics and the pleasures of one of life's single greatest necessities.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Catherine Flood and May Rosenthal Sloan Composting Closing the loop: excremental entrepreneurs, eco-anarchists and urine harvesters, Barbara Penner Farming Glimpsing a golden spike: viewing early industrial agriculture, Richard Pell The rural is not remote, Kathrin Boehm Trading Rethinking the global table: food design as future making, Fabio Parasecoli and Mateusz Halawa Cooking From the 'smart' kitchen to 'kitchenism', Deborah Sugg Ryan Politics and the power of eating, Herkes Icin Mimarlik (Architecture for All) Eating Reconnecting taste and place: a more just, biodiverse and beautiful food system, Zack Denfeld, Cathrine Kramer and Emma Conley - Center for Genomic Gastronomy Play with your food, Sonja Stummerer and Martin Hablesreiter / Honey & Bunny Recipes

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Livre fort excellent de cuysine is one of a family of cookery books that first saw the light with Pierre Sergent''s La Fleur de toute cuysine (renamed Le Grand cuisinier de toute cuisine) of 1542. This edition of the Livre fort excellent was published in 1555. Scholars have often dismissed the printed cookbooks of 16th-century France as simple rehashes of the great medieval Viandier of Taillevent or as merely concentrating on marginal dishes such as sweets and sugarwork. True French cooking, they say, did not start until the publication of Le Cuisinier francois by La Varenne in 1651. While there is some truth in this, the translators and editors of this book would maintain that the change from medieval to modern (already under way in Italy and Spain for example) can be dated back to this book and its kindred; that it was more than a plagiaristic copy. The Livre fort comprises about 70 pages of original French, with an English translation on facing pages. The translation is the work of Timothy J. Tomasik, Associate Professor of French, Valparaiso University, Indiana; an historical introduction discussing the culinary significance of the work is by Ken Albala, Professor of History at the University of the Pacific, Stockton, California. Professor Tomasik has translated other contemporary gastronomic texts and has written many articles on the French table in the Renaissance, and co-edited the volume At the Table: Metaphorical and Material Cultures of Food in Medieval and Early Modern Europe. Professor Albala is the author of Eating Right in the Renaissance and a leading light in historical food studies here and in America. He is editor of the journal Food, Culture and Society.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe thirty-first Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery discussed wrapped and stuffed foods from every possible geographical perspective. This may include sausages on the one hand, or stuffed ravioli on the other. It may also go as far as pies and sausage rolls. In geographical terms the Symposiasts were willing to look at cultures as disparate as Turkey, the United States, seventeeth-century England, Korea and Italy. There is also a pan- cultural discussion of stuffing and wrapping foods in avant-garde or molecular gastronomy.Contributors include the Chinese expert Fuschia Dunlop, the Greek cookery writer Aglaia Kremezi, the celebrated food writer and cultural historian from America Laura Shapiro, the Australian food historian Barbara Santich, the Israeli commentator and historian Susan Weingarten, and the English anthropologist David C. Sutton. Titles of some of the papers include: The Pillsbury Bake-Off: Stuffed and Wrapped in 1950s and 1960s America; Chicken Kiev: Material, Social and Discursive Wrappings; Samuel Pepys’s Venison Pasties; Barbarian heads and Turkish dumplings: the Chinese word mantou; A Knish Is Just a Knish–or Is It? The Evolution of a Street Food to Haute Nosh and Before Dolma:A Taxonomy of Medieval Arab Stuffery.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis'Tell me where you eat, what you eat, and at what time you eat, and I will tell you who you are'. This is the motto of Anka Muhlstein's erudite and witty book about the ways food and the art of the table feature in Honore de Balzac's writings. It is not a coincidence that Balzac was the first in French literature to tackle this appetizing topic. Before the French Revolution, a traveller in France was apt to find local food scarce, tasteless, and of doubtful appearance. Restaurants did not even exist! Just as the art of the table became a centrepiece of French mores, Balzac used it as a connecting thread in his novels, showing how food can evoke character, atmosphere, class, and social climbing. Full of surprise and insights, "Balzac's Omelette" invites you to taste a new French literature and cuisine.Trade Review'Anka Muhlstein's compact, elegantly written, illustrated and printed book makes me want to... revisit some of my favourite French cookbooks... not to be read with a depleted larder, or empty stomach.' -- Cyrus Todiwala

Read more less

Book SynopsisTopics covered by the papers include: Aesthetics and politics of the kitchen in fascist Italy, The bamboo tea whisk in Japanese tea culture, Cooking under fire, 1914-1918, Sugar sculpture in Italian court banquets, Mongolian milk spoons, Perfuming the table in old Baghdad.

Read more less

Book SynopsisMarket rules connect both local farmers and cooks, whether in rural Ireland or downtown Los Angeles, and enable widespread distribution, whether through twelfth-century Mediterranean trade in dried pasta or the now global trade in fresh fish. No wonder people have worked so hard to save markets under threat ? in Athens, in Dublin, in Nazareth ? indeed, worldwide.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisEver seen a fat fox? Didn't think so. Why it is that only humans - or animals in the care of humans - develop obesity? In Ever Seen a Fat Fox?: Human Obesity Explored Professor Mike Gibney delves into the history of the human relationship with food. He traces the evolution of our modern diet and looks to science to offer solutions to the phenomenon of human obesity. He calls on governments to cease the single-issue ad-hoc approach and demands a massive governmental long-term investment in weight management. It is a commonly held belief that obesity is a recent phenomenon. Professor Gibney reveals that obesity is nothing new - in fact, the modern upward trend in obesity began in the mid-nineteenth century. Obesity has been part of human experience whenever and wherever we've had affluence. There are many who seek to apportion blame for the epidemic of obesity. Blaming the food industry for obesity is always popular: sugar is public enemy number one. Debunking exaggerated views and cutting through the mixed messaging Gibney demonstrates that most food processing techniques are old, hundreds and thousands of years old.The genetics of obesity, the practice of dieting, and the value of physical activity are thoroughly assessed. The failures of the players in obesity - including the media, scientists, academic organisations, international agencies, specifically the WHO, and the food industry are brought into sharp focus. What can we learn from the fox? An expert in public health and personalised nutrition with bestselling books and over 300 peer-reviewed papers in the area, Professor Mike Gibney uncovers the full story behind obesity based on painstaking research, and offers us tangible solutions to this very human phenomenon.Trade Review'Governments around the world, including our own, are struggling to devise strategies that will stem and ultimately reverse this epidemic [obesity]. These are the issues addressed in the latest book by Prof Mike Gibney, one of Ireland's most prominent nutritional scientists. Gibney is eminently qualified to reflect on the myriad forces - biological, behavioural, environmental, economic and cultural - that drive the obesity epidemic and to propose potential solutions at both the individual and policy level.' The Irish Times, 13 August 2016 'This book is a refreshing change of pace because it is so incredibly level headed. Are fast food and SSBs good for you? No, and Gibney agrees. But are we placing too much blame at the hands at the level of the food creation PROCESS and not enough on total AVAILABILITY? Perhaps.' The Nutrition Wonk, 20 August 2016 'This is a thoughtful book from one of the most provocative and knowledgeable voices in Irish food science. Those who are tired of simplistic arguments by unqualified commentators and celebrities, and who want to really engage with the fascinating science of nutrition, will be well rewarded.' Sunday Times, 3 July 2016Table of ContentsPreface; Introduction; Chapter 1. Ever seen a fat fox?; Chapter 2. Obesity and health measurements and metrics; Chapter 3. Human obesity - old and new; Chapter 4. The human food chain - old and new; Chapter 5. Culpable foods; Chapter 6. Regulating Food intake - the eyes have it; Chapter 7. Fitness and fatness; Chapter 8. Weight management - the personal perspective; Chapter 9. Weight management - the national perspective; Chapter 10. The nature versus nurture debate; Chapter 11. Eating disorders; Chapter 12. The stigmatisation of fatness; Chapter 13. Obesity - politics, players and ploys; Chapter 14: Reflections and projections; Notes; Index.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Great Indian Food Tripis an entertaining, erudite adventure of eating, drinking and travelling. This is how Zac O'Yeah has come to understand the Indian subcontinent, his home of thirty years.O'Yeah's fast-paced yet profound account charts a writer's untiring quest for new cultural and culinary experiences. We accompany him on a spare parts' tour of Shivajinagar, Bengaluru's slaughterhouse area. He shares the pleasures of drinking beer in Karnataka, toddy in Kerala; eating boiled vegetables and masala-less curries in the Mahatma's ashram;and finding the true secret of tandoori chicken in Chandigarh.He discovers Goa's literati sipping cashewfeniwith Orhan Pamuk and Amitav Ghosh, and finds two of his favourite foodsmushrooms and cheeseinshamudatsi, a Bhutanese stew.Whether you're a lover of Indian cuisine or a wanderer seeking inspiration, this multi-course meal promises wonderful discoveries of India's delicacies, the

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis"Hungry is an excellent text about people’s methods of adapting to modern life; it encompasses psychology, generational identities, and marketing in its considerations of contemporary society.”—Foreword ReviewsWe wait in lines around the block for scoops of cookie dough. We photograph every meal. We visit selfie performance spaces and leave lucrative jobs to become farmers and craft brewers. Why? What are we really hungry for? In Hungry, Eve Turow-Paul provides a guided tour through the stranger corners of today's global food and lifestyle culture. How are 21st-century innovations and pressures are redefining people's needs and desires? How does "foodie" culture, along with other lifestyle trends, provide an answer to our rising rates of stress, loneliness, anxiety, and depression? Weaving together evolutionary psychology and sociology with captivating investigative reporting from around the world, Turow-Paul reveals the modern hungers—physical, spiritual, and emotional—that are driving today's top trends: • The connection between the "death" of the cereal industry and access to work email on our smartphones • How posting images of our dinners on social media both fulfills and feeds our hunger for human connection in an increasingly isolated world • The ways "diet tribes" and boutique fitness gyms substitute for organized religion • How access to round-the-clock news relates to the blowback against GMO foods • Wellness retreats, astrology, plant parenthood, and other methods of easing modern anxiety • Why "eating local" might be the key to solving not just climate change, but our current global sense of disconnection From gluten-free and Paleo diets to meal kit subscriptions, and from mukbang broadcast jockeys to craft beer, Hungry deepens our understanding of why we do what we do, and helps us find greater purpose and joy in today's technology-altered world.Trade Review"With substance, style, and a keen eye for data, Eve Turow-Paul uses food to illuminate the psychology of an entire generation. Hungry is a deeply insightful book that also happens to be more delicious than dessert." —Daniel Gilbert, author of Stumbling on Happiness and professor of psychology at Harvard "Turow-Paul combines great story-telling with a hard look at many trends and beliefs that are not based on facts. She artfully explains why they pull us in anyway, the psychological needs they fill, and how we can bring order and sanity to one of the most fraught topics today: food." —Dr. Daniel J. Levitin, neuroscientist and New York Times bestselling author of The Organized MindTable of ContentsContentsIntroduction I. ControlChapter 1: Transparency & AnxietyChapter 2: Delivery & DistractionChapter 3: Diets & Order II. BelongingChapter 4: Influencers & LonelinessChapter 5: “Likes” & Self-EsteemChapter 6: Diets & IdentityChapter 7: Shared Experiences & Relatedness III. PurposeChapter 8: DIY & EudaimoniaChapter 9: Nature & Well-BeingConclusion AcknowledgmentsEndnotesAbout the Author

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisFood studies: from the local to the global

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisZachary Nowak is the director of The Umbra Institute and a lecturer for the Harvard University Extension School, USA. He received his PhD from Harvard University in 2018 and is a historical geographer with an interest in how place and taste go together (or don't).

Read more less

Book SynopsisHenry Notaker is a writer and journalist at NRK, the Norwegian national television network. He has written a number of books and essays on Scandinavian food and cookbooks.Annechen Bahr Bugge, PhD, is a sociologist and research professor at Consumption Research Norway (SIFO), Oslo Metropolitan University, Norway.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTakes you inside the kitchens and dining rooms of restaurants from David Chang's Momofuku Noodle Bar in New York to the seasonal, French-inspired cuisine of Alice Waters and Thomas Keller in California to the deconstructed comfort food of Homaro Cantu's Moto in Chicago, to explore the different forms and flavors this casualization is taking.

Read more less

Book SynopsisOffers a new perspective on the history of food, looking at writings about cuisine, diet, and food chemistry as a key to larger debates over the state of the nation in Old Regime France.Trade Review"Spary's materials offer new possibilities for seeing the Enlightenment as a contest over practical virtue, over the texture of quotidian life. How should you live? What should you eat? What's for dinner?" (Los Angeles Review of Books)"

Read more less

Book SynopsisOffers a perspective on the history of food, looking at writings about cuisine, diet, and food chemistry as a key to larger debates over the state of the nation in Old Regime France. This title demonstrates how public discussions of eating and drinking were used to articulate concerns about the state of civilization versus that of nature and more.Trade Review"With its wealth of insights into the history of the body as well as French culture, Eating the Enlightenment offers abundant food for thought for scholars and students in a wide range of fields." (Anne Vila, University of Wisconsin - Madison)"

Read more less

Book SynopsisDuring the first half of the twentieth century, Canadian fisheries regularly produced more fish than markets could absorb. In Eating the Ocean, Brian Payne explores how government-funded marketing encouraged consumers to increase their seafood consumption, and how this advertising endeavour contributed to the collapse of the nation’s fisheries.Trade Review“Eating the Ocean offers insights into an important – but entirely neglected – aspect of the many wrongheaded fisheries policies of the twentieth century that have culminated in the dreadful situation of so many of the world’s current fisheries. Brian Payne makes a clear and very well-documented case that it was the focus on consumption that led to overproduction, overfishing, and a tremendous waste of resources.” Jennifer Hubbard, Toronto Metropolitan University and author of A Science on the Scales: The Rise of Canadian Atlantic Fisheries Biology, 1898–1939“The chapters in this book seamlessly blend into each other, making for a coherent whole, and Payne makes good use of his extensive array of sources. The narrative is laid out in an absorbing way as Payne takes great care to assign agency and voice to a vast set of actors, involved more or less directly in the fisheries business. appreciated. This study will surely find an audience outside the fisheries history specialization. It makes for an engaging reading for students and scholars of environmental, economic, and food and nutrition history, and gender and media studies, as well as those generally interested in the history of consumerism.” H-Environment

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review[An] elegant, detailed history... Highly recommended. Choice Hog and Hominy provides a definitive history of the grand social forces and unforgettable personalities that have revolutionized Africa American cooking since the twilight of the Jim Crow system. -- Andrew Warnes Gastronomica Hog and Hominy contributes to understanding the important place of soul food in African American culture and of African American cuisine in the American melting pot. -- Carole Counihan Journal of American Ethnic HistoryTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Introduction 1. The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Columbian Exchange 2. Adding to my Bread and Greens 3. Hog and Hominy 4. The Great Migration 5. The Beans and Greens of Necessity 6. Eating Jim Crow 7. The Chitlin Circuit 8. The Declining Influence of Soul Food 9. Food Rebels Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Trade Review[An] elegant, detailed history... Highly recommended. Choice Hog and Hominy provides a definitive history of the grand social forces and unforgettable personalities that have revolutionized Africa American cooking since the twilight of the Jim Crow system. -- Andrew Warnes Gastronomica Hog and Hominy contributes to understanding the important place of soul food in African American culture and of African American cuisine in the American melting pot. -- Carole Counihan Journal of American Ethnic HistoryTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Introduction 1. The Atlantic Slave Trade and the Columbian Exchange 2. Adding to my Bread and Greens 3. Hog and Hominy 4. The Great Migration 5. The Beans and Greens of Necessity 6. Eating Jim Crow 7. The Chitlin Circuit 8. The Declining Influence of Soul Food 9. Food Rebels Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis excellent collection of essays shows the remarkable variety of ways in which food and meals have served to create and express identity for Christians. From the Middle Ages to the present, and from the Reformation to Orthodoxy to evangelicalism, contributors explore the diversity and the ubiquity of food's connection to faith. -- The Revd Canon Andrew McGowan, Trinity College, The University of Melbourne Ken Albala and Trudy Eden serve a delightful potpourri of thought-provoking and insightful essays. Widely separated in time and space, they are held together by common themes, such as bodily health, fasting, and commensality, and are peopled by a wild array of monks, noblemen, adventurers, bishops, vegetarians, medical professionals, Maoris, and missionaries, to name just a few. This much needed collection deserves to be widely read by anyone interested in food, history, and religion. Well-done! -- Andrew F. Smith Eating History: Thirty Turning Points in the Making of American Cuisine Altogether, the essays are topical, well written, and stimulating. They nicely capture the diversity, nuance, and complexity surrounding the place and role of dietary practices in Christian culture. -- Raymond A. Mentzer Catholic Historical ReviewTable of ContentsIntroduction, by Trudy Eden Historical Background to Food and Christianity, by Ken Albala 1. The Urban Influence: Shopping and Consumption at the Florentine Monastery of Santa Trinita in the Mid-Fourteenth Century, by Salvatore Musumeci 2. The Ideology of Fasting in the Reformation Era, by Ken Albala 3."The Food Police:" Sumptuary Prohibitions on Food in the Reformation, by Johanna B. Moyer 4. Dirty Things: Bread, Maize, Women, and Christian Identity in Sixteenth-Century America, by Heather Martel 5. Enlightened Fasting: Religious Conviction, Scientific Inquiry, and Medical Knowledge in Early Modern France, by Sydney Watts 6. The Sanctity of Bread: Missionaries and the Promotion of Wheat Growing Among the New Zealand Maori, by Hazel Petrie 7. Commensality and Love Feast: The Agape Meal in the Late Nineteenth- and Early Twentieth-Century Brethren in Christ Church, by Heidi Oberholtzer Lee 8. Metaphysics and Meatless Meals: Why Food Mattered When the Mind Was Everything, by Trudy Eden 9. Fasting and Food Habits in the Eastern Orthodox Church, by Antonia-Leda Matalas, Eleni Tourlouki, and Chrystalleni Lazarou 10. Divine Dieting: A Cultural Analysis of Christian Weight Loss Programs, by Samantha Kwan and Christine Sheikh 11. Eating in Silence in an English Benedictine Monastery, by Richard Irvine Bibliography Index

Read more less