Cultural studies: food and society Books

Book SynopsisGravenstein, Coe's Golden Drop, Cox's Orange Pippin: the names sound like something from Tolkien or the ingredients of a magic potion. But as befits their magical appellations, apples have transfixed and beguiled humans for thousands of years. Erika Janik explores the importance of a fruit, born in the mountains of Kazakhstan, which has became a favourite almost everywhere. Apples have played their part in starting the Trojan War, the discovery of gravity and the settling of America, and you can even use them to predict the future. Apples also make for good drinking, and Janik relates the history of cider in Europe and America. From the Garden of Eden and the wicked queen's apple in the story of Snow White to Johnny Appleseed and the Apple computer, apples have been a universal source of sustenance, health and legend from ancient times to the present. Food and history lovers will devour this surprising history of one of the world's most loved and prolific fruits.

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Book SynopsisMother's Milk or Blue Ruin, Dutch Courage or Cuckold's Comfort - the fanciful nicknames that gin has acquired only hint at its colourful story. The story begins with the aromatic juniper berry originally used by the Dutch to flavour the whisky-like genever. The drink then made its way to Britain, where cheap imitations laced with turpentine and other caustic fillers made it the drink of choice for poor eighteenth-century Londoners. Eventually replaced by the sweetened Old Tom style and then by London Dry, gin was introduced to the wider world by means of the British Empire, and during the Jazz Age became a mainstay of a new drinking culture: the cocktail. Today classic cocktails like the Gimlet and the Negroni are embraced by drinkers who enjoy a new breed of modern gins, and gin has reclaimed pride of place in the world of mixology. Gin: A Global History will attract both cocktail aficionados and lovers of food history as it chronicles gin's evolution from cheap liquor to modern alcoholic marvel.Trade Review'The "Gin," volume seems particularly well-timed; the spirit is enjoying a US renaissance. Author Lesley Jacobs Solmonson brings us through gin's history at a blistering pace that manages to satisfy with plenty of drama and botanicals. Somerset Maugham, Dorothy Parker, The Dutch East India Company, and Robert Benchley ("I must get out of these wet clothes and into a dry martini.") all get their due.' - Boston Globe

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Book SynopsisCooking is thinking! The spatter of sauce in a pan, a cook's subtle deviation from a recipe, the careful labour of cooking for loved ones: these are not often the subjects of critical enquiry. Cooking, we are told, has nothing to do with serious thought; the path to intellectual fulfilment leads directly out of the kitchen. In this electrifying, innovative memoir, Rebecca May Johnson rewrites the kitchen as a vital source of knowledge and revelation. Drawing on insights from ten years spent thinking through cooking, she explores the radical openness of the recipe text, the liberating constraint of apron strings and the transformative intimacies of shared meals. Playfully dissolving the boundaries between abstract intellect and bodily pleasure, domesticity and politics, Johnson awakens us to the richness of cooking as a means of experiencing the self and the world - and to the revolutionary potential of the small fires burning in every kitchen.Trade Review“Small Fires is… brave enough to hurt feelings, and delicious enough for no one to care.” — The New York Times "In Small Fires, Johnson explores how the food we make and the ways we make it—and then the stories we tell about making it—shape who we are. . . . Mixing deeply personal anecdotes with more complex theory, Small Fires is at once relatable and mind-expanding." — Vogue "In this slim, spicy, genre-defining work, Rebecca May Johnson spatchcocks the division between intellectual and domestic labor... Blending humor and academic citation, poetic lineation, and personal reverie, this inquiry into the nature of cooking is as delightfully messy as the process itself—some serious food for thought." — Oprah Daily “A gorgeous book…I love to read about the body and I love to read about food, and this tender little book allowed me to do both.” — Saba Sams, The Guardian “Small Fires is a manifesto for reclaiming cooking as an intellectual... a rewarding book that stayed with me — and, like all brilliant food writing, it made me think twice about what I choose to eat and who I eat it with... a brave, honest book.” — Sunday Times “Rich in pleasure and revelation.” — Observer “Small Fires possesses an intellectual fleet footedness and exuberance akin to the writing of Deborah Levy or Rebecca Solnit, as sentences skip between mischievous punning and impassioned agitation... the enthusiasm of the writing here is generous, embracing and emboldening.” — i news “I recommend the book for its insightful, radical, beautiful essays – and for all the kitchen dancing.” — The Guardian “An electrifying read.” — Olive magazine “Revolutionary… this is a book that wakes up the reader’s senses and delivers critical arguments “spattered” in oil, like the pages of a much-used recipe book, making them palatable.” — Times Literary Supplement “Just incredible... a real revelation.” — Sky Arts Book Club “An electrifying, genre-breaking mixture of food writing, memoir and philosophy, asking profound questions about desire, community, appetite and the body" — Rebecca Tamás, Observer "An intense, thought-provoking enquiry into the very nature of cooking, which stayed with me long after I finished it." — Nigella Lawson "One of the most original food books I've ever read, at once intelligent and sensuous, witty, provoking and truly delicious, a radical feast of flavours and ideas." — Olivia Laing "Small Fires is a smart, creative and thoughtful book: it challenges us to think more about how and why we cook, and confounds our expectations of what food writing can be." — Ruby Tandoh "Liberating... a new way to write about food." — Jonathan Nunn "I loved this genre-busting book which made me look differently at every recipe that I cook. Through a mix of memoir and philosophy, Rebecca May Johnson shows that cooking can be a wild kind of magic." — Bee Wilson "Destined to become essential reading for anyone interested in writing about food... Bold, beautiful, daring... It is a book that changed me." — Rachel Roddy "Small Fires is a tender, electric, intimately transformative work. Rebecca May Johnson has written her own glowing epic, reshaping the notion of the recipe as a text alive with possibility. In her hands, recipes become memory objects, acts of translation, expansive spaces full of feeling." — Nina Mingya Powles, author of Small Bodies of Water "Rebecca May Johnson's scintillating soliloquy on cooking adds a whole new dimension to food-writing, and pulls the tablecloth out from beneath a lot of stale (and often male) assumptions about the nature and value of domestic labour. I'll never think of a 'recipe' in the same way again." — Fuchsia Dunlop "Small Fires is like nothing else I have read. Truly unique, truly unusual, it weaves together cooking, dancing, and the Odyssey in a riveting, and moving exploration of what counts as knowledge. It had me rethinking what a recipe is, what cooking is, what is 'I' and what is 'you'. It is a book that asks profound and serious questions while also being musical, erotic, and deeply pleasurable. Being in the company of Rebecca May Johnson's voice -- companionable, intimate, questioning -- was a sheer delight. I didn't want it to end." — Katherine Angel “The most compelling book about cooking I’ve read this year, perhaps ever. Rebecca is a writer of extraordinary intelligence and wit, and I would push this book with feverish enthusiasm into the hands of anyone who spends time in the kitchen.” — Jackson Boxer’s Christmas gift guide, Evening Standard “Brave, funny, thought-provoking, heart-warming, and like nothing else you will have ever read.” — The best food books for Christmas, Club Oenologique “Cooking is thinking is the takeaway argument of Small Fires, and I can’t tell you how good it felt to read those three words in succession without some kind of qualification.” — Chantal Braganza, Hazlitt “The creative, bracing essays of Rebecca May Johnson’s Small Fires redefine the act of cooking and elevate the value of domestic labor... with a combination of intellectual rigor and playfulness, they analyze the emotions, difficulty, and importance involved in offering food to others.” — Foreword Reviews “In Small Fires, Johnson gives the [recipe] text the epic it deserves, looking at it every which way but prioritizing the living, breathing, hungry eye of the home cook” — N+1 Magazine “A welcoming, challenging, original meditation on recipes and their use.” — Los Angeles Review of Books “Keenly aware of the assumptions that have informed so much writing about food, Johnson seeks to restore cooking to its rightful place as a form of knowledge—one through which pleasure, desire, and resistance can be expressed.” — The New Republic“Johnson peels back the layers, looking at what food, appetite and pleasure mean in a bold and imaginative way.” — Glamour (UK)“Rich in pleasure and revelation.” — Guardian, Paperbacks of the Month“Small Fires put me back in the kitchen. Not just physically, but spiritually. I'm back in my kitchen. I'm making messes. My cookbook pages are splattered with little gluttonies. Food is by no means too good for words, and Johnson's are too perfect a pairing. Read this book or else.” — Stacy Wayne D.

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Book SynopsisAs seen in Grazia, the Guardian, and more...Recognised as one of the most beloved fruits of the Black diaspora, Plantain holds profound value within the cultures and communities it is part of.Compiled for the first time in one vibrant volume, A Quick Ting On: Plantain is an infectious cultural insight into the versatile fruit. Discover its contested historical origins, its multilingual etymology, the biochemistry that sets Plantain apart from regular bananas and, yes, the War of Pronunciation... Is it Plan-tain or Plan-tin?Containing recipes from across the African continent, the Caribbean, Latin America and South Asia, author Rui Da Silva paints an astonishing international history of Plantain - celebrating food within Black households across the globe as an intimate marker of identity and culture.From recent developments in farming practices to the effects of food gentrification on working-class Afro-Caribbean communities, Rui also explores the politics behind Plantain. Inflation, Fairtrade, and climate change all have a part to play in the ongoing journey of this coveted fruit.Unifying stories of innovation, hardship and, above all, love, A Quick Ting On: Plantain is a delicious ode to the intersection of food, culture and humanity.Trade ReviewThings I enjoyed while I was away: [...] Rui Da Silva's A Quick Ting On Plantain. * Ruby Tandoh, food writer and author of Cook As You Are *I'm really obsessed with A Quick Ting On - the afro hair and plantain one in particular. * Candice Carty-Williams *Table of Contents 1: My Life And Plantain 2: The History Of Plantain 3: The Plantain Republic: People And Plantain 4: The War Of Pronunciation: Plant-ain vs. Plan-tin 5: Plantain All Over The World 6: The Political Crinkum Crankum of Plantain 7: Plantain Now And In The Future

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Book SynopsisA simple design object to overcome food scarcity. The sausage is one of mankind's first-ever designed food items. A paragon of efficient butchery, it was designed to make the most of animal protein in times of scarcity, and dates back as far as 3300 BCE. Today, the sausage remains a cornerstone of our food culture. England alone has over 470 different types of breakfast sausages! Now, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), we are facing a serious shortage of protein-rich-food. Meat, in particular, will be scarce. One reason for this is over-consumption: in today's world, we simply consume too many animal products. So can we look to the sausage to provide a solution once again, in order to reduce the consumption of meat? Can the use of new ingredients replace the meat and increase the diversity of our diets? To answer these questions, a chef of molecular gastronomy, a master butcher and a designer have teamed up to look into sausage production techniques and potential new ingredients - like insects, nuts, and legumes - to create the "future sausage. ' This book takes the reader on a journey through all the building blocks of a sausage and presents lesser-known ingredients, carefully selected for their "future potential." AUTHOR: Carolien Niebling, born 1984, is a designer and researcher who specialises in food-related projects and lives and works in Lausanne. She graduated ECAL Master in Product Design in 2014. 174 illustrations

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Book SynopsisCes principes directeurs sont le résultat d'une consultation d'experts dirigée conjointement par la FAO et l'OMS en juillet 2019. Ils adoptent une approche holistique des régimes alimentaires et tiennent compte des recommandations nutritionnelles internationales, du coût environnemental de la production et de la consommation alimentaires ainsi que de la capacité d'adaptation aux contextes sociaux, culturels et économiques locaux. L'expression «alimentation saine et durable» a été convenue au cours de la consultation pour englober les deux dimensions de l'alimentation – durabilité et salubrité. Les régimes alimentaires sains et durables sont des modèles alimentaires qui promeuvent toutes les dimensions de la santé et du bien-être des individus, présentent un faible impact environnemental, sont accessibles, abordables et sont culturellement acceptables. Ils visent le bien-être des individus à toutes les étapes de la vie, pour les générations actuelles et futures. Ils contribuent à prévenir la malnutrition sous toutes ses formes et à réduire les risques de maladies non transmissibles liées à l'alimentation, tout en soutenant la préservation de la biodiversité. Ces principes directeurs soulignent le rôle de la consommation et des régimes alimentaires dans la contribution à la réalisation des objectifs de développement durable (ODD) au niveau des pays, en particulier les objectifs 1 (Pas de pauvreté), 2 (Faim zéro), 3 (Bonne santé et bien-être), 4 (Éducation de qualité), 5 (égalité entre les sexes), 12 (consommation et production responsables) et 13 (action pour le climat). Ils sont transcrits sous forme de messages clairs et non techniques à l'usage des gouvernements et d'autres acteurs impliqués dans la prise de décision politique et la communication.

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Book SynopsisMămăligă, maize porridge or polenta, is a universally consumed dish in Romania and a prominent national symbol. But its unusual history has rarely been told. Alex Drace-Francis surveys the arrival and spread of maize cultivation in Romanian lands from Ottoman times to the eve of the First World War, and also the image of mămăligă in art and popular culture. Drawing on a rich array of sources and with many new findings, Drace-Francis shows how the making of mămăligă has been shaped by global economic forces and overlapping imperial systems of war and trade. The story of maize and mămăligă provides an accessible way to revisit many key questions of Romanian and broader regional history. More generally, the book links the history of production, consumption, and representation. Analyses of recipes, literary and popular depictions, and key vocabulary complete the work.Trade Review"This is not only a masterfully written account of Romanian modernity seen from a 'mămăligocentric perspective,' but also a thorough analysis of the interrelations between gastronomy, politics, economics, national identities, and social perceptions." https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/jrns.2023.6 -- Constantin Ardeleanu * Journal of Romanian Studies *"The extent of the research is fantastic. Drace-Francis covered so many different aspects, from old recipes, to the 1848 Irish famine and their refusal to eat corn (so they don’t turn out black), to the Crimean War, and to different revolts. The links between corn and the Ottoman and russian occupation are covered too. It’s a short book, but filled with interesting facts and presented in an easy to follow and nice narrative." https://www.coffeeandbooks.co.uk/the-making-of-mamaliga-by-alex-drace-francis/ -- Coffee and Books * Coffee and Books *Table of ContentsList of Maps, Graphs, Tables Introduction: The Land is Waiting 1. From the Caribbean to the Carpathians: The Coming of Cucuruz, c.1492-1700 2. Conquerors, Cultivators, and Collaborators: Maize at Empire’s Edge, 1700-1774 3., Conflict, Contagion and Commerce: The Triumph of Maize, 1774-1812 4. Maize, Raki or Death: The Revolt of 1821 Reconsidered 5. Mămăligă 2.0: Maize on the World Market, 1821-1856 6. Independence, Capitalism, Disease and Revolt; Or, Why the Mămăligă Exploded, 1856-1907 7. Manna valachorum: Recipes at the Interface 8. ‘The sparrow dreams of cornmeal, and the idle man of a day of rest’: Mămăligă as Metaphor Conclusion: The Land is Waiting Appendix: Words and Things Glossary Mămăligography Illustration Credits Acknowledgements Index

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Book SynopsisFood food food All is good I love fast food I love slow food I love hot food I love cold food I eat carrots But not parrots I eat corns But not horns Children can improve their literacy skills as well as their eating habits while having fun with rhyming words and zany thoughts. Inspired by the works of Dr. Suess, children and adults can equally have fun reading this book.

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Book SynopsisLaguna Lake, the largest lake in the Philippines, supplies Manila's dense urban region with fish and water while operating as a sink for its stormflows and wastes. Transforming the lake to deliver these multiple urban ecological functions, however, has generated resource conflicts and contradictions that unfold unevenly across space. In Urban Ecologies on the Edge, Kristian Karlo Saguin tracks the politics of resource flows and unpacks the narratives of Laguna Lake as Manila's resource frontier. Provisioning the city and keeping it safe from floods are both frontier-making processes that bring together contested socioecological imaginaries, practices, and relations. Combining fieldwork and historical accounts, Saguin demonstrates how peoplepowerful and marginalizedinteract with the state and the environment to produce the unequal landscapes of urbanization at and beyond the city's edge.Trade Review"Urban Ecologies on the Edge provides a compelling account of how a peripheral space of provisioning evolved alongside a major urban centre, and contributed to shaping its process of urbanization." * The Canadian Geographer *Table of ContentsContents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction: Frontiers of Urbanization Part One Making and Remaking a Frontier 1 • Birth of a Convenient Frontier 2 • Enclosing a Commodity Frontier 3 • An Unruly Frontier Part Two The Work of Urban Metabolic Flows 4 • Chains of Urban Provisioning 5 • Biographies of Fish for the City 6 • Infrastructures of Risk Epilogue: Mutable Frontiers, Metabolic Futures Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisMoving beyond familiar myths about moonshiners, bootleggers, and hard-drinking writers, Southern Comforts explores how alcohol and drinking helped shape the literature and culture of the US South.

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Book SynopsisExploring why food aid exists and the deeper causes of food poverty, this book addresses neglected dimensions of traditional debates. It challenges neoliberal governmentality and shows how food charity maintains inequalities of class, race, religion and gender.Table of ContentsForeword - Kate Pickett 1. Introduction 2. Revising perspectives on neoliberalism, hunger and food insecurity 3. Food aid and neoliberalism: an alliance built on shared interests? 4. Soup and salvation: realising religion through contemporary food charity 5. Whiteness, racism and colourblindness in UK food aid 6. Lived neoliberalism: food, poverty and power 7.Racial inequality or mutual aid? Food and poverty among Pakistani British and White British women 8. Seeds beneath the snow

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Book SynopsisPeasant Politics of the Twenty-First Century illuminates the transnational agrarian movements that are remaking rural society and the world''s food and agriculture systems. Marc Edelman explains how peasant movements are staking their claims from farmers'' fields to massive protests around the world, shaping heated debates over peasants'' rights and the very category of peasant within the agrarian organizations and in the United Nations.Edelman chronicles the rise of these movements, their objectives, and their alliances with environmental, human rights, women''s, and food justice groups. The book scrutinizes high-profile activists and the forgotten genealogies and policy implications of foundational analytical frameworks like moral economy, and concepts, such as food sovereignty and civil society. Peasant Politics of the Twenty-First Century charts the struggle of agrarian movements in the face of land grabbing, counter agrarian reform, and

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Book SynopsisOn any given day in Jordan, more than nine million residents eat approximately ten million loaves of khubz 'arabi—the slightly leavened flatbread known to many as pita. Some rely on this bread to avoid starvation; for others it is a customary pleasure. Yet despite its ubiquity in accounts of Middle East politics and society, rarely do we consider how bread is prepared, consumed, discussed, and circulated—and what this all represents. With this book, José Ciro Martínez examines khubz 'arabi to unpack the effects of the welfare program that ensures its widespread availability. Drawing on more than a year working as a baker in Amman, Martínez probes the practices that underpin subsidized bread. Following bakers and bureaucrats, he offers an immersive examination of social welfare provision. Martínez argues that the state is best understood as the product of routine practices and actions, through which it becomes a stable truth in the lives of citizens. States of Subsistence not only describes logics of rule in contemporary Jordan—and the place of bread within them—but also unpacks how the state endures through forms, sensations, and practices amid the seemingly unglamorous and unspectacular day-to-day.Trade Review"Original, lucidly written, and theoretically rigorous, this rich ethnography tells us how to find the state in a quite unexpected place: the bakery. An outstanding book."—John Chalcraft, London School of Economics, author of Popular Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East"The exciting States of Subsistence not only challenges how we think about state power in Jordan, but offers a nuanced reading of the literature on state power and an original theoretical approach. José Ciro Martínez provides a roadmap for examining quotidian practices of state power in democracies and non-democracies alike."—Jillian Schwedler, author of Protesting Jordan: Geographies of Power and Dissent"Beautifully written, rich in ethnographic detail, States of Subsistence examines the constitution of the state at a novel site: the bakery. Drawing on remarkable access to the inner workings of both bakeries and government bureaucracy, José Ciro Martínez offers a nuanced account of how subsidized bread figures in people's everyday lives and encounters with the state."—Jessica Barnes, author of Staple Security: Bread and Wheat in Egypt"Jose Ciro Martinez's brilliant new book,States of Subsistence, largely sets aside those dominant questions of bread riots, food security, regime survival and economic reforms to craft a uniquely important and absolutely fascinating look into the political meaning of the lived experience of subsidized bread in Jordan."—Marc Lynch, Abu Aardvark"In this fascinating book, [Martínez] reveals the extent to which the bread subsidy is intimately woven into the economic, social, and political life of the kingdom."—Lisa Anderson, Foreign Affairs"Centering the perspectives of Jordanians with intimate knowledge of bread and baking, Martínez demonstrates the analytical payoff of taking cultures of consumption and culinary knowledge seriously."—Anny Gaul, Current History"Martínez sees the consumption and production of bread as a microcosm for how Jordanians coexist with authoritarian power. There is no other book about the politics of subsidizing bread in Jordan, certainly none that bestows such a memorable conclusion."—Sean L. Yom, Middle East Research and Information Project"I have long waited for this kind of book, an embodied political economy of a staple food such as bread, and how it literally—rather than just symbolically—sustains a nation. Martinez's evocative ethnography of bread and political stability in Jordan is a prime example of how minute attention to everyday food practices can yield deep analytical insights into the workings of a state."—Katharina Graf, Gastronomica"This splendid ethnographic study addresses one of political science's most glaring lacunae. Few things weigh more heavily than food upon both citizens and governments alike. Yet few other concepts are as understudied as this one, particularly by political scientists working on the Middle East.... To make sense of this uncertain future, observers of Jordan should consider how politics and food became wedded to one another in the first place. States of Subsistence is a magnificent place to start."—Sean Yom, International Journal of Middle East StudiesTable of ContentsIntroduction: 1. A New Style of Administration 2. Sensing the State 3. Statecraft 4. Echoes, Absences, and Reach 5. Tactics at the Bakery 6. Leavened Apprehensions Conclusion

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Book SynopsisAn in-depth look at Black food and the challenges it faces today For Black Americans, the food system is broken. When it comes to nutrition, Black consumers experience an unjust and inequitable distribution of resources. Black Food Matters examines these issues through in-depth essays that analyze how Blackness is contested through food, differing ideas of what makes our sustenance “healthy,” and Black individuals’ own beliefs about what their cuisine should be. Primarily written by nonwhite scholars, and framed through a focus on Black agency instead of deprivation, the essays here showcase Black communities fighting for the survival of their food culture. The book takes readers into the real world of Black sustenance, examining animal husbandry practices in South Carolina, the work done by the Black Panthers to ensure food equality, and Black women who are pioneering urban agriculture. These essays also explore individual and community values, the influence of history, and the ongoing struggle to meet needs and affirm Black life. A comprehensive look at Black food culture and the various forms of violence that threaten the future of this cuisine, Black Food Matters centers Blackness in a field that has too often framed Black issues through a white-centric lens, offering new ways to think about access, privilege, equity, and justice. Contributors: Adam Bledsoe, U of Minnesota; Billy Hall; Analena Hope Hassberg, California State Polytechnic U, Pomona; Yuson Jung, Wayne State U; Kimberly Kasper, Rhodes College; Tyler McCreary, Florida State U; Andrew Newman, Wayne State U; Gillian Richards-Greaves, Coastal Carolina U; Monica M. White, U of Wisconsin–Madison; Brian Williams, Mississippi State U; Judith Williams, Florida International U; Psyche Williams-Forson, U of Maryland, College Park; Willie J. Wright, Rutgers U.Trade Review"Strongly recommend this volume as essential reading for courses in American Studies, Anthropology, Geography, African and African Diaspora Studies, Feminist Studies, and Food Studies and Systems, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels."—Current Anthropology "Framed by a clear and well-documented introduction by the editors, the books contains 10 chapters written by scholars in the fields of geography, environmental studies, anthropology, ethnic and women’s studies, African and African diaspora studies, and American studies."—CHOICE"A thought provoking and often mouthwatering discussion of food values that have endured in spite of the discontinuities that have persisted since slavery."—Ethnic and Racial Studies "This innovative edited volume offers an incisive contribution that destabilizes dominant assumptions about the food justice movement."—Medical Anthropology Quarterly "Mediating between the thread to Black food culture and a celebration of it, Black Food Matters centers Blackness in a field that has too often framed Black issues through a white-centric lens, offering new ways to think about access, privilege, equity, and justice."—Antipode"Black Food Matters is here to teach us all how not to just ask the right questions but to stand alongside those who have always done so."—City & Society"Black Food Matters is an excellent read, illustrating the intersection between Black food studies, urban political economy, and equitable development. "—Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development

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Book SynopsisThe toil of several million peasant farmers in Aztec Mexico transformed lakebeds and mountainsides into a checkerboard of highly productive fields. This book charts the changing fortunes of one Aztec settlement and its terraced landscapes from the twelfth to the twenty-first century. It also follows the progress and missteps of a team of archaeologists as they pieced together this story. Working at a settlement in the Toluca Valley of central Mexico, the authors used fieldwalking, excavation, soil and artifact analyses, maps, aerial photos, land deeds, and litigation records to reconstruct the changing landscape through time. Exploiting the methodologies and techniques of several disciplines, they bring context to eight centuries of the region's agrarian history, exploring the effects of the Aztec and Spanish Empires, reform, and revolution on the physical shape of the Mexican countryside and the livelihoods of its people. Accessible to specialists and nonspecialists alike, this well-illustrated and well-organized volume provides a step-by-step guide that can be applied to the study of terraced landscapes anywhere in the world. The four authors share an interest in terraced landscapes and have worked together and on their own on a variety of archaeological projects in Mesoamerica, the Mediterranean, Poland, and the United Kingdom.

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Book SynopsisIn the early 1930s, the Australian family confectionery company Darrell Lea was a sensation, its shops stacked with delicious chocolates, marshmallows, nougat and much more in line with the company's motto to 'Stack 'em high, watch 'em fly'.It was at this time that Montague Lea met the vivacious teenage 'ticket writer' Valerie Everitt. Monty fell hard for her and, despite strong family opposition on both sides, they would marry.Valerie was keen to have a large brood and, though her pregnancies were difficult, she gave birth to four children. But they were not enough and in 1947 she adopted the first of three more children who were designed to be playmates for her own. It was a social experiment that would end in tears, as would the fortunes of the iconic company, destroyed by the glue that once bound it together - family.Rocky Road is the story of this chocaholic clan and the creative and eccentric woman who dominated it. Behind the irresistible sweetness of Darrell Lea lay a family who made bitter sacrifices to succeed in the candy business.

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Book SynopsisThere is a new cookbook in town. Not just another. This one has the longest recipe to make. Not challenging enough? Edible art and music is possible. Your dinner will become an unforgettable experience for your guests even before you start eating. Your meals won’t be a still life painting on a table anymore or a cooking tv show to impress your friends. And its not just the simple how to bake a carrot cake, it’s a totally new and different one. Groundbreaking in its content. The Creative Chef takes us in his world of creativity and cooking and helps us to make our lives more beautiful when cooking for others. Do you know how to make music out of chocolate? Which scents go well with Russian Vodka and which stories go well with mushrooms? The innovation in your capacities as a chef doesn’t come only with new ingredients and presentation but mostly through these stories that will change not only the way you cook but also how to be inspired by the interconnection of food with everything around you. It´s not so much about cooking and recipes, but more about creating an amazing eating experience. It's full of tips, ideas, and instructions for activities and presentation on and around the dinner table and magic to turn your dinner party into an amazing food experience. You have to have this unique and groundbreaking cookbook, you dig? Don’t stop playing with your food!

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Book SynopsisLos Angeles Times Best Cookbooks 2020 Saveur Magazine "Favorite Cookbook to Gift" Esquire Magazine Best Cookbooks of 2020 "The book weaves in reflections on art, religion, culture, music, and more, so even if you’re not an epicure, there’s something for everyone."—Men's Journal Bestselling author Sandor Katz—an “unlikely rock star of the American food scene” (New York Times), with over 500,000 books sold—gets personal about the deeper meanings of fermentation. In 2012, Sandor Ellix Katz published The Art of Fermentation, which quickly became the bible for foodies around the world, a runaway bestseller, and a James Beard Book Award winner. Since then his work has gone on to inspire countless professionals and home cooks worldwide, bringing fermentation into the mainstream. In Fermentation as Metaphor, stemming from his personal obsession with all things fermented, Katz meditates on his art and work, drawing connections between microbial communities and aspects of human culture: politics, religion, social and cultural movements, art, music, sexuality, identity, and even our individual thoughts and feelings. He informs his arguments with his vast knowledge of the fermentation process, which he describes as a slow, gentle, steady, yet unstoppable force for change. Throughout this truly one-of-a-kind book, Katz showcases fifty mesmerizing, original images of otherworldly beings from an unseen universe—images of fermented foods and beverages that he has photographed using both a stereoscope and electron microscope—exalting microbial life from the level of “germs” to that of high art. When you see the raw beauty and complexity of microbial structures, Katz says, they will take you “far from absolute boundaries and rigid categories. They force us to reconceptualize. They make us ferment.” Fermentation as Metaphor broadens and redefines our relationship with food and fermentation. It’s the perfect gift for serious foodies, fans of fermentation, and non-fiction readers alike. "It will reshape how you see the world."—EsquireTrade Review"I’m super jazzed about this book because this is what I stay up at night thinking about . . . . For a lot of people getting into fermentation, understanding the ideas and philosophies around it will help put them at ease with the practical application and act of fermenting, growing molds, and using them to produce food."—Jeremy Umansky, coauthor of Koji Alchemy"This book is a must read for anyone eager to transform our society for the better." —Rob Greenfield, author of Food Freedom"A strange, wondrous book that does exactly what the title promises. Katz, a high priest of fermentation, poetically draws together threads that link the world of the microbiome to the macro: art, religion, sex, emotion, memory, activism, growth, death, family and one’s own sense of self."—Helen Rosner, the New Yorker, via Instagram"This book is amazing... I’m a huge fan of [Sandor’s] so I think I can say this straight up: I think it is the best thing [he’s] written.... A meditative, analytical call for change."—Chef Dan Barber"An amazing, beautiful meditation . . . A meditation in the classical sense of thinking and fermenting through your emotions and feelings about the world.... I knew this was going to be different and I am so thrilled it is."—Chef David Zilber, coauthor of The Noma Guide to Fermentation"A swift, spicy, and timely read."—Bill Addison, Los Angeles Times"The book’s full-page images are mesmerizing."—Saveur Booklist— “Having written his comprehensive guide to all things fermented, The Art of Fermentation, Katz turns philosophical, trying to find deeper meanings in what the physical nature of fermentation means in the wider culture.”"This is not really a food book. It’s something much deeper. It’s a manifesto for living and thinking in a new way."—Jeff Gordinier, Food & Drinks Editor, Esquire "Katz taught us how to make sauerkraut and kimchi. Fermentation as Metaphor helps us think about them." —Boston Globe"Fermentation as Metaphor is audacious, often surprising."—The Guardian"A new book by Sandor is always an event for us fermentos!"—Michael Pollan, via Twitter

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Book SynopsisPoached, scrambled, boiled, whipped into a cocktail, transformed into a painting medium, tossed at an enemy’s house. As the most striking of paradoxes, the egg exists in happy suspension between humble household ingredient and ever-powerful source of life. One of the most enduring symbols throughout antiquity, eggs were used by the Romans to dispel evil spirits, modeled as priceless artifacts for the Russian nobility, and were woven into Egyptian mythology. In the debut volume of TASCHEN’s series with cult-favorite The Gourmand journal, we celebrate the link between food and culture in a visual and literary exploration of the powerhouse kitchen staple. A collection of original essays and archetype recipes, from the perfect poach to artful desserts, celebrates the diversity of culinary traditions around the world. The Gourmand’s Egg. A Collection of Stories and Recipes is illustrated with exclusive commissions by acclaimed still life photographers—equal parts sumptuous, absurd, lurid, mouthwatering, and undeniably The Gourmand. Rounding out the volume are works from art history’s titans, including Salvador Dalí, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Frida Kahlo, David Hockney, and Man Ray alongside texts from chef, food writer, and critic Ruth Reichl and writer and editor Jennifer Higgie, and more. “In cooking — as in almost every-thing else,” Reichl said. “It all starts with an egg.”Trade Review“This tasty title is well worth dipping (your soldiers) into.” * World of Interiors *“[A] gorgeous, frothy offering from food-culture journal The Gourmand.” * World of Interiors *“…entertainingly explores the cultural and culinary history of the egg, with spectacular imagery and essential recipes.” * Delicious *“As this lavishly ovophilic work demonstrates, eggs are loaded with symbolic and metaphoric potential, and their hold on the artistic imagination, as well as our appetites, can be traced back through the millennia.” * The Observer New Review *“The humble egg has provided inspiration well beyond the kitchen and is celebrated in all its guises in The Gourmand’s Egg: A Collection of Stories and Recipes.” * ArtReview *“…an absolute playground for the eyes and mind.” * vanityfair.com *“Celebrating the endless possibilities of the egg… whether it’s poached, scrambled, boiled, whipped, deviled, painted, or even tossed, the egg is here celebrated in all its various guises: as both humble household ingredient and ever-powerful source of life.” * vogue.com *“The Gourmand's Egg. A Collection of Stories & Recipes dives into the cultural relevance and history behind the oval wonder, while blessing our eyes with the most eclectic visual companions we've ever seen inside the pages of a cookbook.” * Tasting Table *“…turns the staple (ingredient) into a star, and charts its significant beyond the kitchen.” * Apollo *“A closer look at how eggs became a complex motif in countless works of art.” * Salon *“Every food-lover’s favourite magazine ‘The Gourmand’ has begun a series of books dedicated to singular foods, featuring essays, recipes and always beautiful imagery. Scramble to get your mitts on the first, centred on the humble egg.” * ES Magazine *“The Gourmand’s Egg is the first in a new series of sumptuous art books by TASCHEN, celebrating the connections between art and food.” * The Telegraph *“A cracking new look at the egg… Culinary, cultural… it’s all collected in this fascinating compendium of all things ovoid.” * The Financial Times *“Cracked, over-easy or richly symbolic: the humble egg in art.” * The Observer *“Editorially experimental, visually conceptual, but highly accessible because of the sheer wit of its inventive features, The Gourmand offers surprising delicacies.” * The Guardian *

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Book SynopsisFor a long time, everything revolved around bread. Providing more than half of people's daily calories, bread was the life-source of Europe for centuries. In the middle of 19th century, a third of household expenditure was spent on bread. Why, then, does it only account for 0.8% of expenditure and just 12% of daily calories today?In this book, Peter Scholliers delves into the history of bread to map out its defining moments and people. From the price revolution of the 1890s that led to affordable and pure white bread, to the taste revolution of the 1990s that ushered in healthy brown bread, he studies consumers, bakers and governments to explain how and why this food that once powered an entire continent has fallen by the wayside, and what this means for the modern age.From prices and consumption to legislation and technology, Scholliers shows how the history of bread has been shaped by subtle cultural shifts as well as top-down decisions from ruling bodies. From theTrade ReviewBread, a name that tastes ancient and "natural". But bread does not exist in nature. Since it was invented it has been a symbol of innovation and creativity. Bread is the perfect food, designed by humans for humans. After millennia, it continues to hold the secret of humanity. * Massimo Montanari, Professor of Medieval History, Bologna University, Italy *In a masterful and lively study, as rigorous as it is graceful, Scholliers insists on the essential : bread is at the core of public and private life, as much a political and social as a nutritional and gastronomical object, a powerful force of and for life, yet also a reminder of its fragility. * Steven Laurence Kaplan, Goldwin Smith Professor emeritus of European History, Cornell University, USA *Bread was, for centuries, the staple of most Europeans’ diets. Here Peter Scholliers weaves together economic and medical histories, the daily lives of workers, the histories of technology and consumption, to demonstrate how a simple item like a loaf of bread can trace historical change in all its complexity. * Rachel Rich, Reader in Modern European History, Leeds Beckett University, UK *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I: The Consumer 1. Eating Bread 2. Types of Bread 3. Prices and Purchasing power 4. Acquiring Bread: Baking, Buying and Stealing 5. Calories, Kilos and Grams 6. Bad bread: Fraud, Additives and Riots Part II: The Baker 7. Artisanal Baking 8. Technology and Hygiene 9. The Factories 10. Wages, Costs and Profits 11. Image, Status and Wealth 12. Politics, Strikes and Consultations Part III: The Government 13. Grain Policy 14. Price Control 15. Fraud on the Track 16. School and Education 17. Committees, Councils, Institutes and Agencies Conclusion: Good Bread Glossary Bibliography Appendices Index

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThe book is ethnographically rich and presents us with new ways of thinking about development practices and environmental politics broadly defined. More importantly, An Ethnography of Hunger makes a significant contribution to the understanding of the relationship between power, politics and the environment. The book, for many years to come, will provoke intellectual debate about the place of politics and the environment in Tanzania, Africa, and beyond. * Political and Legal Anthrology Review *Recommended. * Choice *Phillips's nuanced analysis of the lived experience of hunger, its embeddedness in social relationships, and its impact on political subjectivity are truly original and set this book apart from other anthropological studies of hunger, subsistence farming, or political subjectivity. -- Jennie E. Gurnet - Georgia State University * African Studies Review *Table of ContentsPreface AcknowledgementsIntroduction: Subsistence CitizenshipPART I: The Frames of Subsistence in Singida: Cosmology, Ethnography, HistoryChapter 1 Hunger in Relief: Village Life and Livelihood Chapter 2 The Unpredictable Grace of the Sun: Cosmology, Conquest, and the Politics of SubsistencePART II: The Power of the Poor on the Threshold of SubsistenceChapter 3 We Shall Meet at the Pot of Ugali: Sociality, Differentiation, and Diversion in the Distribution of FoodChapter 4 Crying, Denying, and Surviving Rural HungerPART III: Subsistence CitizenshipChapter 5 Subsistence versus DevelopmentChapter 6 Patronage, Rights, and the Idioms of Rural Citizenship Conclusion: The Seasons of Subsistence and CitizenshipNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisA free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. The Scarcity Slot is the first book to critically examine food security in Africa's deep past. Amanda L. Logan argues that African foodways have been viewed through the lens of the scarcity slot,' a kind of Othering based on presumed differences in resources. Weaving together archaeological, historical, and environmental data with food ethnography, she advances a new approach to building long-term histories of food security on the continent in order to combat these stereotypes. Focusing on a case study in Banda, Ghana that spans the past six centuries, The Scarcity Slot reveals that people thrived during a severe, centuries-long drought just as Europeans arrived on the coast, with a major decline in food security emerging only recently. This narrative radically challenges how we think about African foodways in the past with major implications for the future.Trade Review"The book provides an accessible way to understand the foodstuffs and foodways in the region and contains an impressive review of the food literature written in English. It is also methodologically exemplary for food archaeology analyses. I highly recommend this book to a large audience interested in West Africa, to specialised archaeobotanists, and also to archaeologists who will here be shown the potential of food archaeology." * Journal of African Archaeology *“This masterful book is essential reading for Africanist students, scholars, policymakers, and anyone else interested in African food security and how the past can inform and shape the present.” * African Archaeological Review *"[Logan] builds a strong argument for using excavation of soil, of histories, of cuisines as a key method for food studies. . . .the African continent should be an essential component of food inquiry and education; Logan provides a framework for where to begin." * Gastronomica *"This is a superb book which calls into question many basic assumptions about African agricultural productivity and food history. It is beautifully argued and thoroughly documented. . . . The Scarcity Slot not only makes a hugely important contribution to the study of African food histories but also demonstrates the need for a much more nuanced understanding of Africa as a whole." * Ethnoarchaeology *

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Book SynopsisA rich, long-term ethnography of women seafood traders in Mexico.Table of Contents Preface Acknowledgments Introduction: Amber Sunsets and Pink Gold Chapter 1. Contested Grounds: Women Shrimp Traders and Street Economies Chapter 2. On Becoming Changueras: Gendered Livelihoods and Contested Identities Chapter 3. The Street of the Women Shrimp Traders: Learning the Tricks of the Trade in Space and Place Chapter 4. Here We Are Like a Family: The Complexity of Social Relations Chapter 5. The Culture and Economy of Pink Gold: The Meanings, Processes, and Values of Shrimp Chapter 6. Sometimes We Work Just to Pay Our Debts: Informal Credit and Savings Systems Chapter 7. From Outcasts to Icons: Women Shrimp Traders and Expressive Culture Conclusion: Feminist Political Ecology, Ethnography, and Uncovering Lived Realities References Index

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Book SynopsisIllustrates how neoliberalism influences the production, branding, and regulation of local foods and drinks. This book also challenges the strategy of relying on alternative markets to protect food cultures and rural livelihoods.Trade Review"There is not much published about the two iconic Mexican spirits, except for consumer books and tasting guides to different brands. Bowen's perspective is fresh and thought-provoking." -- Fabio Parasecoli The Huffington Post "This is far from a breezy read, and that's exactly the point. In today's spirits landscape, where a new celebrity tequila brand seems to launch each month and mezcal has gone viral, it's rare that we pause to consider the consequences of our adoration ... Offers an exhaustively researched, academic look at the forces that threaten these two great spirits that should be essential reading for anyone with an interest in protecting all that makes them great." Punch "Engaging ... A top gift book for the beverage drinker." -- Dean Tudor Gothic Epicures VinCuisineTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Acknowledgments Abbreviations 1. The Promise of Place 2. From the Fields to Your Glass 3. Whose Rules Rule? Creating and Defining Tequila Quality 4. The Heart of the Agave: Farming in Tequila Country 5. Making Mezcal in the Shadow of the Denomination of Origin 6. Hipsters, Hope, and the Future of Artisanal Mezcal 7. Looking Forward Methodological Appendix Notes Works Cited Index

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Book Synopsis `If you find the subject of food to be both vexing and transfixing, you'll love What She Ate' Elle

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Book SynopsisIn its current state, the global food system is socially and ecologically unsustainable: nearly two billion people are food insecure, and food systems are the number one contributor to climate change. While agro-industrial production is promoted as the solution to these problems, growing global "food sovereignty" movements are challenging this model by demanding local and democratic control over food systems. Translating Food Sovereignty accompanies activists based in the Pacific Northwest of the United States as they mobilize the claim of food sovereignty across local, regional, and global arenas of governance. In contrast to social movements that frame their claims through the language of human rights, food sovereignty activists are one of the first to have articulated themselves in relation to the neoliberal transnational order of networked governance. While this global regulatory framework emerged to deepen market logics, Matthew C. Canfield reveals how activists are leveraging this order to make more expansive social justice claims. This nuanced, deeply engaged ethnography illustrates how food sovereignty activists are cultivating new forms of transnational governance from the ground up. Trade Review"This book brings to life interactions among globally connected activist communities seeking to challenge dominant and rather simplistic ways of thinking about inequality, the environment, poverty, and food production. A must-read for scholars, students, and activists as well as those seeking to implement more inclusive and realistic policies."—Eve Darian-Smith, University of California, Irvine"Matthew Canfield is one of the leading socio-legal scholars focused on food sovereignty and agroecology. In this gripping account of the burgeoning food sovereignty movement in the US, he highlights how activists use food sovereignty to challenge transnational governance and neoliberal economic models. Canfield grounds his work in detailed ethnographical study and tells a bigger story of how struggles over the control of food systems can transform law, society, and economy. The food sovereignty movement is over 25 years old and has used law in complex and creative ways. While at the same time, food politics today are more intense than ever. This book is incredibly timely and provides an account of legality in the food sovereignty movement that we've all been waiting for."—Michael Fakhri, UN Special Rapporteur to the Right to Food"Translating Food Sovereignty is as ambitious as it is engaging. Expertly weaving together ethnography with legal studies, Canfield not only helps us to re-imagine more just food systems, he shows us how this is already being done."—Jessica Duncan, Wageningen University"Canfield examines the 'social practices of translation' involved in food sovereignty, whereby power and meaning are constantly contested and shifting. Using ethnographic research methods, the author traces the historical evolution of food sovereignty and then provides examples of how groups attend to issues such as control and communication in food governance at local, national, and international levels.... Recommended."—C. L. Lalonde, CHOICE"Canfield's book represents a grounded and inspiring assessment of how strategically cultivating justice in an age of global governance, through different local and global forms of legal mobilization of food sovereignty – from street protests to strategic litigation – can hold tremendous promise."—Jeff Handmaker, The Journal of Peasant Studies"Canfield's book points to openings in an ongoing and probably irresolvable debate. His careful, comprehensive, and rigorous examination of several cases invites us to step into them and explore what the right to food and other rights could look like in some places. He allows us to explore what is possible and what could be realized through collective, concerted action on multiple scales. Ultimately, the struggle and debate continues well beyond the conclusion of the book, and we can thank Canfield for offering us some new tools and insight toward carrying on the struggle."—Amy Trauger, The AAG Review of Books"This work is extremely useful for community organizers and activists in this area and policymakers at all levels, local, national, and international."—Richard Zimmer, Food Anthropology"[W]ell written, informative, and engaging. For anyone interested in learning about the FS [food sovereignty] movement, this book provides a general history of the global FS movement and a detailed record of FS activism in western Washington.... Due to Canfield's selected methodology and active participation in the FS struggle, presented perspectives feel personal, giving you insights on why the FS movement is important to many."—Tiffany K. Woods, Agriculture and Human Values"In an era marked by widespread food insecurity and escalating concerns about climate change, Translating Food Sovereignty: Cultivating Justice in an Age of Transnational Governance by Matthew C. Canfield offers a timely and thought-provoking analysis of the global food system.... With a wealth of experiences spanning from 'formal' to 'informal' and encompassing both legal and practical dimensions, each perspective presented feels remarkably comprehensive and worthy of serious consideration."—Mallory Cerkleski, Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development"In this engaging empirical account, we not only learn about recent and ongoing food sovereignty struggles in their local specificity but also glimpse how these struggles extend beyond lawmaking institutions and across legal jurisdictions. Translating Food Sovereignty thus offers a welcome contribution to legal anthropology, studies of social movements, and scholarship on governance from below."—Leila Kawar, Political and Legal Anthropology ReviewTable of ContentsIntroduction: The Law and Politics of Food Sovereignty 1. Translocal Translation and the Practice of Networks 2. Constructing and Contesting "Local" Food Governance 3. Revaluing Agricultural Labor 4. Protecting People's Knowledge 5. Democratizing Global Food Governance Conclusions: Cultivating Justice in an Age of Transnational Governance

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Book SynopsisThis book provides a comprehensive theological framework for assessing the significance of eating. Drawing on diverse theological, philosophical, and anthropological insights, it offers fresh ways to evaluate food production and consumption practices as they are being worked out in today''s industrial food economy. Unlike books that focus primarily on vegetarianism and hunger-related concerns, this book broadens the scope of consideration to include the sacramental character of eating, the deep significance of hospitality, the meaning of death and sacrifice, the Eucharist as the place of inspiration and orientation, the importance of saying grace, and the possibility of eating in heaven. Throughout, eating is presented as a way of enacting fidelity between persons, between people and fellow creatures, and between people and Earth. Food and Faith demonstrates that eating is of profound economic, moral, and spiritual significance. Revised throughout, this edition includes a new introductTrade Review'Many people who 'do theology' for a living resign themselves to dusty classrooms where they fiddle with doctrines that most us can't even pronounce. But not Norman Wirzba. He is a first-rate thinker by any reckoning, but he has devoted his life to the holiness of the ordinary. It's no surprise then that he would pen a groundbreaking theology of eating. Food and Faith is an invitation to taste and see God's goodness with the power to transform your mealtimes into worship services. Savor this book slowly, and thank me when you're finished.' Jonathan Merritt, author of Learning to Speak God from Scratch and contributing writer for The Atlantic'I strongly recommended the first edition of Food and Faith. I recommend the second edition with even more enthusiasm. Not only are there careful revisions throughout, there are critical new chapters. Science is rapidly changing our understanding of ourselves as complex creatures, and the advent of the Anthropocene promises to alter everything - the planet's dynamics itself, and certainly culture and agriculture. Wirzba's cutting edge attention to these gives this new edition even more significance and more traction.' Larry Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary, New York City'Food and Faith is undoubtedly the quintessential theological work on eating, but Norman Wirzba's vision extends far beyond the food we put in our mouths. His careful thinking orients us toward living healthfully and well within the interconnected life of God's creation.' C. Christopher Smith, founding editor of The Englewood Review of Books, and co-author of Slow Church: Cultivating Community in the Patient Way of Jesus'Human eating practices have never been more disordered than they are today. Systems of modern industrial food production sustain billions of lives on this planet, but many still go to bed hungry, while others suffer from a surfeit of cheap, highly processed foods. Wirzba wisely reminds us that more technology cannot finally save us here. Instead, he invites us to taste and see that the Lord is good. Food, he tells us, is God's love made edible. Sharing meals together, we glimpse a foretaste of heaven. Our very bodies are sites of nurture for myriad organisms, and we are privileged to be capable of glimpsing our own lives and deaths as participating in nature's unfolding round of relationality. Will we respond to the call to participate in God's own Trinitarian life of hospitality, communion, and care? Will we make eating a spiritual practice? A beautiful and transformative book.' Jennifer A. Herdt, Gilbert L. Stark Professor of Christian Ethics, Yale Divinity School'Norman Wirzba is a gift and this book is one of the best you'll read this year. The thoughtfulness, the insight, the depth in these pages will revolutionize the way you think about every meal, every person you break bread with, every morsel that sustains you. Highly recommended!' Margaret Feinberg, author of Taste and See: Discovering God among Butchers, Bakers, and Fresh Food Makers'Food and Faith is a modern classic in serious Christian theological ethics, and even better in its new second edition. Wirzba offers here a magisterial, comprehensive work that can transform not only how Christians think about food but how we think about agriculture, community, death, covenant, Eucharist, heaven, scripture, and Jesus himself. A fine example of what can happen when a trained theologian committed to practicing the way of Jesus determines to address a significant but neglected issue in human life. I highly recommend this book.' David P. Gushee, Director of the Center for Theology and Public Life, Mercer University and President of the American Academy of ReligionTable of ContentsIntroduction: who is the you that eats?; 1. It's about fidelity; 2. Thinking theologically about food; 3. The 'roots' of eating: our life together in gardens; 4. Eating in exile: dysfunction in the world of food; 5. Life through death: sacrificial eating; 6. Eucharistic table manners: eating toward communion; 7. Saying Grace; 8. Eating in heaven? Consummating communion; Epilogue. Faithful eating in an anthropocene world.

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Book SynopsisA fascinating and approachable deep dive into the colonial roots of the global wine industry. Imperial Wine is a bold, rigorous history of Britain's surprising role in creating the wine industries of Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. Here, historian Jennifer Regan-Lefebvre bridges the genres of global commodity history and imperial history, presenting provocative new research in an accessible narrative. This is the first book to argue that today's global wine industry exists as a result of settler colonialism and that imperialism was central, not incidental, to viticulture in the British colonies. Wineries were established almost immediately after the colonization of South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand as part of a civilizing mission: tidy vines, heavy with fruit, were symbolic of Britain's subordination of foreign lands. Economically and culturally, nineteenth-century settler winemakers saw the British market as paramount. However, British drinkers were apathetic towards what they pejoratively called colonial wine. The tables only began to turn after the First World War, when colonial wines were marketed as cheap and patriotic and started to find their niche among middle- and working-class British drinkers. This trend, combined with social and cultural shifts after the Second World War, laid the foundation for the New World revolution in the 1980s, making Britain into a confirmed country of wine-drinkers and a massive market for New World wines. These New World producers may have only received critical acclaim in the late twentieth century, but Imperial Wine shows that they had spent centuries wooing, and indeed manufacturing, a British market for inexpensive colonial wines. This book is sure to satisfy any curious reader who savors the complex stories behind this commodity chain.Trade Review"Historical insights and sharp commentary. A must-read for students of wine history." * Australian Financial Review *"Imperial Wine teaches wine enthusiasts about the role of empire in shaping the wine world of the past, present, and probably the future, too. And it teaches students of imperialism that the influence of those forces continues even in something as seemingly simple as a glass of wine. Interesting. Well-written. Thought-provoking. I learned a lot." * Wine Economist *"Really fascinating . . . . Very accessible to the average reader who has any interest at all in the history of wine. Most important, however, is I think the author has contributed an original idea or at least fully fleshed out an idea concerning the significance and utility of the 'Old World' / 'New World' structure that has for so long now played a key role in discussions of wine history and the world wine marketplace." * Fermentation newsletter *"As with any good history, Regan-Lefebvre’s book sparks more questions than it answers. . . . This is, however, not a shortcoming of the book but a strong point: like a glass of rich red wine, the topic of wine in the British Empire certainly has legs. These legs— and the ideas propounded in this book—will provide fertile ground for future discussion and scholarship in the years to come." * Gastronomica *"It's a brilliant book from start to finish. Academic rigour and discipline structures every page. The weight of detail is formidable. The subject is uncomfortable, even ugly. But Regan-Lefebvre has a gift – she knows how to curlicue dry facts just enough to make them intriguing without losing their accuracy. She’s delivered all this in what amounts to a cracking read. It is a fascinating book. A page-turner, even!" * JancisRobinson.com *"A novel approach. . . . Imperial Wine is the vinous equivalent of a rags-to-riches story. Based on an impressive amount of research, it springs the occasional surprise." * TLS *"Shows how the modern consumer’s​ ​choice of an alcoholic beverage rested on centuries of canny merchant​ ​schemes, land grabs, and exploitation of Indigenous peoples​. . . . ​This book clearly proves that good commercial wine is one of the​ ​ways that the system convinces players that the game is worth playing​." * Journal of Interdisciplinary History *"Informed readers will appreciate its extensive coverage and writing style, in which lively and uncomplicated prose is enlivened with numerous wry asides. . . . It tells a compelling story of how wines from the former Empire came to win over British palates, and capture a major share of the global market. It is the first book that succeeds in explaining how this unfolded over the course of more than two centuries.​" * Journal of Wine Economics *"Imperial Wine… [offers] a master class in historical storytelling. Carving out a space between academia and popular historical writing, it offers a compelling critique of the global forces underpinning the production, consumption, and circulation of wine across the British Empire." * Social History of Alcohol and Drugs *Table of ContentsContents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction PART ONE. ORIGINS, C. 1650–1830 1 • Writing about Wine 2 • Why Britain? 3 • Dutch Courage: The First Wine at the Cape 4 • First Fleet, First Flight: Creating Australian Vineyards 5 • Astonished to See the Fruit: New Zealand’s First Grapes PART TWO. GROWTH, C. 1830–1910 6 • Cheap and Wholesome: Cape Producers and British Tariffs 7 • Echunga Hock: Colonial Wines of the Nineteenth Century 8 • Have You Any Colonial Wine? Australian Producers and British Tariffs 9 • Planting and Pruning: Working the Colonial Vineyard 10 • Sulphur! Sulphur!! Sulphur!!! Phylloxera and Other Pests 11 • Served Chilled: British Consumers in the Victorian Era 12 • From Melbourne to Madras: Wine in India, Cyprus, Malta, and Canada PART THREE. MARKET, C. 1910–1950 13 • Plonk! Colonial Wine and the First World War 14 • Fortification: The Dominions and the Interwar Period 15 • Crude Potions: The British Market for Empire Wines 16 • Doodle Bugs Destroyed Our Cellar: Wine in the Second World War PART FOUR. CONQUEST, C. 1950–2020 17 • And a Glass of Wine: Colonial Wines in the Postwar Society 18 • Good Fighting Wine: Colonial Wines Battle Back 19 • All Bar One: The New World Conquers the British Market Conclusion Appendix: Notes about Measurements Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisOffering a sweeping overview of how and what humans have eaten in their long history as a species, this book uses case studies from recent archaeological research to tell the story of food in human prehistory.Trade ReviewThe Story of Food in the Human Past is fascinating and well written and covers a broad swath of archaeology with a tone that will not only engage students, but also general readers interested in the archaeology of food."—Jerry D. Moore, author of The Prehistory of Home and Visions of Culture: An Introduction to Anthropological Theories and Theorists, Fifth Edition

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Book SynopsisAcomprehensive and entertaining historical and botanical review, providing an enjoyable and cognitive read.Nature The foods we eat have a deep and often surprising past. From almonds and apples to tea and rice, many foods that we consume today have histories that can be traced out of prehistoric Central Asia along the tracks of the Silk Road to kitchens in Europe, America, China, and elsewhere in East Asia. The exchange of goods, ideas, cultural practices, and genes along these ancient routes extends back five thousand years, and organized trade along the Silk Road dates to at least Han Dynasty China in the second century BC. Balancing a broad array of archaeological, botanical, and historical evidence,Fruit from the Sandspresents the fascinating story of the origins and spread of agriculture across Inner Asia and into Europe and East Asia. Through the preserved remains of plants found in archaeological sites, Robert N. Spengler III identifies the regions where our most familiar crops were domesticated and follows their routes as people carried them around the world. With vivid examples,Fruit from the Sandsexplores how the foods we eat have shaped the course of human history and transformed cuisines all over the globe.Trade Review“An excellent example of a comprehensive and entertaining historical and botanical review, providing an enjoyable and cognitive read for scientists, general public, students and policy makers.” * Nature *“Combines the studies of history, archaeology, and botany in an excellent account of where many of our foodstuffs originate, showing how they became distributed over most of Eurasia.” * CHOICE *“Spengler tells a fascinating tale of a culinary past that is just beginning to come into focus. . . .Provides lots of food for thought.” * Science News *"An entertaining and thought provoking historical, botanical and archaeological review of a vast swathe of the Old World. It is accessible for specialists and the general public alike, and should be read by policy makers as well, with a mind to thinking about agricultural diversity and sustainability." * Central Asian Archaeological Landscapes *"A book that you are likely to turn to again and again for that extra bit of insight into the story behind the food on your plate, which is the true test of great plants-and-people ‘story-telling’." * Botany One *"The volume is truly a mine of information. This book is a must for anybody interested in food, cultural diversity, archaeology, exchange networks and the impact of modern globalisation on food and cultural homogenisation." * Antiquity *"The acts of buying, cooking, or studying food are enriched by the historical and scientific background that the author provided after serious consideration of aspects related to botany, history, and geography." * Graduate Journal of Food Studies *"The unique contribution of this book is its ability to bring evidence from archaeological plant remains to life, in a style that could be readily appreciated by readers with a variety of interests." * Plant Science Bulletin *"Fruit From the Sands stands most definitely as a solid analysis of early Asian food origins and exchanges, and as such is a welcome addition to the literature on Asian cultural history, but should find resonance in other spaces as well." * Asian Review of World History *"Filled with details about plant and human movements and adaptations, Fruit from the Sands speaks to scholars from a wide range of fields in humanities, social sciences and biological sciences." * Food, Culture & Society *Table of ContentsA Word on Semantics A Note on Dates Map of Central Asia part i. how the silk road influenced the food you eat 1. Introduction 2. Plants on the Silk Road 3. The Silk and Spice Routes part i i. artifacts of the silk road in your kitchen 4. The Millets 5. Rice and Other Ancient Grains 6. Barley 7. The Wheats 8. Legumes 9. Grapes and Apples 10. Other Fruits and Nuts 11. Leafy Vegetables, Roots, and Stems 12. Spices, Oils, and Tea 13. ConclusionAppendix: European Travelers along the Silk Road Acknowledgments Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisLike coffee or tea, yerba mate is one of the world's most beloved caffeinated beverages. Once dubbed a devil's drink by Spanish missionaries in South America only to be later hailed by capitalists and politicians as green gold, it has a long and storied history. And no country consumes and celebrates yerba mate quite like Argentina. Yerba Mateis the first book to explore the extraordinary history of this iconic beverage in Argentina from the precolonial period to the present. From yerba mate's Indigenous origins to its ubiquity during the colonial era, from its association with rural people and the poor in the late nineteenth century to its resurgence in the last years of the twentieth century, Julia Sarreal meticulously documents yerba mate's consumption, production, and cultural importance over time.Yerba Mateis the definitive history of this popular beverage and social practice, and it tells a fascinating story about race, culture, and how a drink helped forge the national identity of one of the world's most dynamic countries.Trade Review"Yerba Mate is the first book to chart the captivating journey of Argentina’s cherished caffeinated beverage from its indigenous roots to the modern day. Through meticulous documentation, author Julia Sarreal showcases how yerba mate has intertwined with Argentina’s cultural and racial dynamics. She sheds light on yerba mate’s transformative role in shaping the country’s national identity and its present ubiquity." * Food Tank *"Yerba Mate would appeal to anyone interested in learning all that is needed to know about an infusion that is embedded in Argentine culture and the country’s everyday life. . . . I would recommend heating water, preparing a mate, and sipping while you enjoy the reading." * ReVista *"As Sarreal notes, yerba mate is now increasingly consumed as a cold beverage in Europe and the United States, marketed as a pick-me-up superfood with all the false trappings of Indigenous exoticization. And thanks to Sarreal’s sweeping book, scholars of Latin America and of food and drugs now have a definitive study of yerba mate in Argentina, and a picture window on the nation’s historical longue durée." * Hispanic American Historical Review *Table of ContentsContents Acknowledgments Introduction 1 • From Indigenous Staple to Colonial Commodity 2 • Tool of Empire 3 • Borderland Production and the Struggle to Form an Argentine Nation 4 • Gaucho Mythology and the Drink of the New Argentines 5 • Profits and Nationalism: The Rise of Green Gold in Argentina’s Belle Epoque 6 • Yerba Regulation, Nationalism, and the Fall of Laissez-Faire Ideology 7 • Yerba Workers as a Symbol of Capitalist Exploitation 8 • Modernity, Mass Politics, and Mate’s Decline 9 • The Rebirth of Mate with Democracy, Economic Crisis, and Globalization Afterword Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisHow oysters shaped the environment, cultures, and economies of the NorthwestHeaven on the Half Shell offers a thoroughly researched and richly illustrated history of the Pacific Northwest's beloved bivalve, the oyster. Starting with the earliest evidence of sea gardens and clam beds from 11,500 years ago, this book covers the history of oyster cultivation through contemporary aquaculture in coastal Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, northern California, and southeastern Alaska. Generations of oyster farmers, Native and non-Native, have weathered many challenges to continue the harvest. Their vivid individual accounts are braided together with significant history, such as the major contributions of Japanese immigrants prior to World War II and the 1994 Rafeedie decision that affirmed shellfish harvesting rights held by Northwest tribes. The book also sheds light on the innovations that made oysters an enduringly popular food, from the creation of so-called sexless oysters that coulTrade Review"The writers’ respective backgrounds in science and history, combined with delectable dishes, make this book one part cookbook, one part bedside reading for food and history buffs." * 425 Magazine *"A must-read for PNW oyster lovers." * KING 5 - Evening *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review‘This impressive Handbook captures and reflects the vibrancy of, and will propel further, the rapidly expanding field of critical agrarian studies. It is an indispensable reference in the field for students, teachers, researchers, policy experts, and activists.’ -- Saturnino M. Borras Jr., International Institute of Social Studies, the Netherlands and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Peasant Studies‘The Handbook of Critical Agrarian Studies is a magnificent field-building achievement. Ambitious and comprehensive, it marks the coming of age of critical agrarian studies, with first-rate contributions from foundational thinkers and emerging stars on everything from agroecology and land, to financialization, territoriality, extractivism, migrant labour, and dozens of other topics.’ -- Marc Edelman, Hunter College and The Graduate Center, City University of New York‘Critical agrarian studies is not a sentimental journey into the past but ways of rethinking how the dynamics of agrarian change reflect and shape some of the most important issues of our time. In these creative and thoughtful short chapters, leading scholars provide new angles on familiar questions such as land ownership, the ways we eat, agrarian extractivism, ecological crisis and rural social movements and on many new issues as well. Authors also lead readers through current debates and introduce them to the particular methodological problems of agrarian studies.’ -- Bridget O’Laughlin, International Institute of Social Studies, the Netherlands and Co-Editor of the Journal of Agrarian Change'The Handbook of Critical Agrarian Studies is an excellent and solid work that takes us through the foundational and current debates of this research field, its main concepts and methodological approaches, the intersection of the agrarian question with environmental, territorial, techno-science and financialization issues, among other topics. An essential reference book.’ -- Carla Gras, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Argentina‘This Handbook will surely become the point of departure for anyone planning research on agrarian issues from a critical perspective. The 72 contributions – most by well-regarded experts in the field—provide both succinct literature reviews and substantive insight on a broad range of relevant topics. Some of the chapters, such as on The Agrarian Question, Land Grabs, and Feasible Utopias are superb. Whether for clarification of key concepts or to grasp the contours of current debates, the Handbook will be useful to students, researchers, those teaching in the field, as well as policy advocates and activists.’ -- Carmen Diana Deere, University of Florida, USTable of ContentsContents: Foreword xxiii Tania Murray Li Acknowledgements xxv 1 An introduction to the Handbook of Critical Agrarian Studies 1 A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi, Kristina Dietz, Bettina Engels and Ben M. McKay PART I ORIGINS 2 Frontiers, regimes and learning from history 9 Ulbe Bosma and Eric Vanhaute 3 Origins of peasant studies 15 Harriet Friedmann 4 The diversity of classical agrarian Marxism 25 A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi and Cristóbal Kay 5 Debates on the historical origins of agrarian capitalism 34 Xavier Lafrance 6 An alternative perspective on the agrarian question in Europe and in the developing countries 45 Utsa Patnaik PART II CONCEPTS 7 The agrarian question 53 Michael Watts 8 Class 67 Sara Berry 9 Land 72 A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi 10 Frontiers: Commodification and territorialization 80 Mattias Borg Rasmussen and Christian Lund 11 Labour 91 Jonathan Pattenden 12 Labor and social reproduction 99 Smriti Rao 13 Peasants 109 Jan Douwe van der Ploeg 14 Gender 120 Avanti Mukherjee 15 Gender, nature, body 131 Andrea J. Nightingale and Wendy Harcourt 16 Kinship 139 Pauline E. Peters 17 Generation 150 Ben White 18 Intersectionality 157 Carol J. Pierce Colfer, Markus Ihalainen and Bimbika Sijapati Basnett 19 Merchant and usurer’s capital 165 John Harriss 20 Agricultural markets 171 Muhammad Ali Jan and Barbara Harriss-White 21 Financialization 178 Jennifer Clapp and S. Ryan Isakson 22 Agrarian law 187 Sergio Coronado 23 Territoriality 197 Annie Shattuck and Nancy Lee Peluso 24 Agrarian/land reform 205 Ben Cousins 25 Food regimes 218 Philip McMichael 26 Crisis 232 Robert Chernomas, Ian Hudson and A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi 27 Food sovereignty, food security and the right to food 238 Priscilla Claeys, Annette Aurélie Desmarais and Jasber Singh PART III METHODOLOGIES 28 Qualitative research 251 Elisa Greco 29 Quantitative analysis 258 J. Paul Dunne 30 Geographical research 266 Oliver Pye 31 Questions and answers 272 A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi PART IV REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES 32 The agrarian question in Africa: Past, present and future 279 Samir Amin 33 Social movements in times of extractivism: The ecoterritorial turn in Latin America 285 Maristella Svampa 34 Agrarian change in China: Historical origins and competing perspectives 296 Qian Forrest Zhang 35 Beyond confrontation: Silent growers, symbiosis and subtle peasantness in post-socialist Eurasia 305 Oane Visser, Brian Kuns and Petr Jehlička 36 BRICS and global agrarian transformations 316 Gustavo de L.T. Oliveira and Ben M. McKay 37 Neoliberalism and the crisis in India’s countryside 324 Prabhat Patnaik 38 Crises of capitalism in the countryside: Debates from the South 334 Praveen Jha and Paris Yeros PART V DEBATES 39 Land grabs 346 Ariane Goetz 40 Water for agriculture 357 Larry A. Swatuk 41 Biofuels 366 Carol Hunsberger 42 Industrial fisheries and oceanic accumulation 374 Elizabeth Havice and Liam Campling 43 Forests and current transitions 387 Markus Kröger 44 Artisanal and small-scale mining 401 Boris Verbrugge and Robin Thiers 45 Footloose labour 410 John Harriss 46 Contract farming 416 Helena Pérez Niño and Carlos Oya 47 Biotechnology 427 Matthew A. Schnurr and Lincoln Addison 48 Agroecology 438 Nils McCune and Peter Rosset 49 Identities and culture in the rural world 453 Nicholas Copeland 50 Everyday politics in agrarian societies 463 Benedict J. Tria Kerkvliet 51 The state and rural politics 469 Leandro Vergara-Camus 52 Experts, land regimes and the politics of mapping 480 Facundo Martín 53 Rural social movements/transnational agrarian movements 491 Giuliano Martiniello 54 Industrial agriculture and agrarian extractivism 503 Ben M. McKay and Henry Veltmeyer 55 Rural dispossession and capital accumulation 515 Derek Hall 56 Ecological crises in the rural world 525 Marcus Taylor 57 Microfinance and rural financial inclusion 536 Marcus Taylor 58 Rural indebtedness 547 Julien-François Gerber 59 The neoliberal diet 556 Gerardo Otero 60 Meatification 561 Tony Weis 61 Digital agriculture 568 Kristina Dietz and Franza Drechsel 62 COVID-19 581 A. Haroon Akram-Lodhi PART VI TRAJECTORIES 63 The interface of critical development studies and critical agrarian studies 594 Henry Veltmeyer 64 Political ecology 601 Kristina Dietz 65 Pluriloguing postcolonial studies and critical agrarian studies 610 Johanna Leinius 66 Agrarian justice: Land, human rights and democratization 620 Jennifer C. Franco and Sofía Monsalve Suárez 67 Strategic linkages between STS and critical agrarian studies 630 Ryan Nehring 68 The Capitalocene response to the Anthropocene 636 Kees Jansen and Joost Jongerden 69 Degrowth in agrarian and fisheries studies 647 Arnim Scheidel, Irmak Ertör and Federico Demaria 70 Reconfiguring the intersection between urban food movements and agrarian struggles: Building an urban political agroecology praxis 656 Chiara Tornaghi and Severin Halder 71 Radical transformation: Creating alternatives to capitalism in the countryside 666 Kristina Dietz and Bettina Engels 72 Feasible utopias 676 Ray Bush Index 689

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Book SynopsisSince the dawn of time oysters have inhabited the earth. Naturally high in essential vitamins and minerals, they are one of the oldest known and most widely enjoyed foods consumed by humans. Varying in size from as small as a grape to as large as a dinner plate, the oyster has driven countries towards discovery and exploration. It has been the food of the rich and the sustenance of the poor. Renowned for its supposed aphrodisiac quality, it has inspired writers, poets, painters and lovers. Throughout history, it has also contributed to the spread of diseases such as typhoid and cholera. Follow the story from the prehistoric up to the present day, discovering how the oyster became the food of both paupers and kings, contributed to the building of empires and the demise of ecosystems, and why it may be the creature to help save the world's dying coastal shorelines and reefs.

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Book SynopsisThe Food and Folklore Reader is the first comprehensive introduction to folklore methods and concepts relevant to food. Mapping the study of food through key sources in folkloristics, the forty readings span the entire discipline: from seminal works on identity and aesthetics, to innovative scholarship on contemporary food issues such as food security and culinary tourism. The book also features:- Expert commentary and comprehensive introductions to each of the book's five parts by renowned folklorist and food scholar Lucy M. Long- Global coverage, with examples from the United States, Canada, Australia, Europe, Jewish and Filipino culture, and much more- Questions for discussion and suggestions for further reading supporting learning and encouraging students to explore these ideas in their own workDefinitive in scale and scope, this book defines the field of food and folklore for a new generation of students. An essential resource for all students in food studies, folklore Trade Review[Lucy M.] Long has culled the archives of the field, using seminal works that define folklore as well as articles that explore more contemporary issues such as food security and culinary tourism … She does an admirable job covering diverse food cultures with examples from the many ethnic identities within the United States, Canada, Australia, Sweden, Jewish and Arab cultures, and many more … an admirable job of collecting these articles on how to study the vast and ever growing world of food and culture chiefly from Folklore’s foodways perspectives. * Digest: A Journal of Foodways and Culture *This collection is sure to appeal to students in many disciplines, and really to anyone interested in the meaning of food. Accessible but sophisticated, the chapters start with foundational work, and then show us new angles on many familiar topics, from Spam to fruitcake, and draw us into the richness of contemporary folkloristics. This book belongs on every food scholar's shelves. -- Richard Wilk, Indiana University, USAWant to understand why food is so important? Read this book. Expertly curated by Lucy Long, The Food and Folklore Reader traces the history of the field and details the depth and breadth of food in the vernacular. Appealing and accessible to the general reader, it is a must have for food studies scholars. -- Amy Bentley, New York University, USAFolklore was one of the earliest disciplines to take food seriously and engage with popular disputations around literal taste. This excellent anthology reminds us of the insights that can be garnered in pursuing the productive methodologies and concepts in folkloristics. It is brimming with pedagogical tools for teaching about food, culture and society. -- Krishnendu Ray, New York University, USAThis is a major resource for the rapidly growing field of foodways and its study by folklorists. Opening with the pioneering work of Don Yoder in the 70s and closing with her own recent work on culinary tourism, Lucy Long casts a wide net as editor of this rich and diverse set of readings. From Jewish cuisine in the Mississippi Delta to the Dog’s Eye Pie in Australia, Long leaves no stone unturned. Essential reading for understanding food worlds. -- William Ferris, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USAFood and Folklore Reader is an excellent contribution to the study of food from the distinctive angle that folklore provides. * Folklore *Table of ContentsGeneral Introduction Part 1: Foundations: History, Definitions, and Methodologies Introduction to Part One Discussion Questions References and Further Reading Readings Part 2: Food in Groups, Community, and Identity Introduction to Part One Discussion Questions References and Further Reading Readings Part 3: Food as Art, Symbol, and Ritual Introduction to Part One Discussion Questions References and Further Reading Readings Part 4: Food as Communication, Performance, and Power Introduction to Part One Discussion Questions References and Further Reading Readings Part 5: Food in Public and Applied Folklore Introduction to Part One Discussion Questions References and Further Reading Readings Appendix of Sources Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"Informative, pragmatic responses about what, why, and how we eat." * Kirkus Reviews *“An easily digestible series of Q&A-format chapters, the book explores questions of what personal nutrition looks like in our complicated food world, and how both flawed policy and corporate interests can make sustainable and healthy eating challenging. . . . Nestle deftly threads many of the nutritional issues facing the country.”
 * FoodPrint *"There is no one who knows more about food politics and policy and its effects on health in this country than Marion Nestle. . . . Years of research on various aspects of our systems have made her the go-to, for many of us, when we can't make sense of something that should be very straightforward but is anything but. . . . Her perspective is expansive and her opinions direct." * KCRW/Good Food *“[Addresses] some of the most pressing issues around consumers’ diets, local and global food systems, and the environment. . . . Offers readers an accessible introduction to these complex topics. It also shows readers how they can fight for a better food system and a healthier planet.” * Food Tank *"Klein offers a concrete and approachable doorway to a discussion and study of race in America. She tells a compelling story, devoid of jargon and not requiring specialized knowledge, while still grounded in rigorous research." * Food, Culture & Society *"This 'little book' has big messages and is well worth reading even by those already active in food and nutrition advocacy. It achieves its goal of being accessible to diverse readers. Overall, it integrates topics that are discussed separately in Nestle’s previous books and that are often considered separately in public health and larger societal discourse but must ultimately be addressed by coordinated solutions." * American Journal of Public Health *Table of ContentsIntroduction I. THE POLITICS OF PERSONAL DIETS AND HEALTH 1. What is a healthy diet? 2. Why does nutrition advice always seem to be changing? 3. Are low-carb diets really better for us? 4. Can food be addictive? 5. Is fake meat better for us—and the planet—than the real thing? 6. Is it a good idea to self-medicate with supplements or superfoods? II. THE COMMUNITY POLITICS OF FOOD CHOICE 7. Why should anyone go hungry, ever? 8. Is obesity really only a matter of personal responsibility? 9. Why isn’t healthy school food a no-brainer? 10. Why don’t we demand a higher standard of food safety? 11. Why can’t we stop wasting food? 12. Do we need a national food policy agency? III. THE GLOBAL POLITICS OF DIETS, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT 13. Can we feed the world well? 14. Is the “free” market the path to a stable global food supply? 15. Can we stop agriculture from contributing to global warming? 16. Will technology fix our food system? 17. What are Sustainable Development Goals, and why should we care? 18. Is there a road map to the future of food? Conclusion: Take Action Abbreviations Sources and Further Reading Index

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Book Synopsis*Winner of the 2022 Cherasco International Prize*''Thoroughly engrossing'' Michael Pollan, The Atlantic''Wonderful, energising'' Kathryn Hughes, The GuardianCoffee is one of the most valuable commodities in the history of the global economy and the world''s most popular drug. The very word ''coffee'' is one of the most widespread on the planet. Augustine Sedgewick''s brilliant new history tells the hidden and surprising story of how this came to be, tracing coffee''s 400-year transformation into an everyday necessity.The story is one that few coffee drinkers know. Coffeeland centres on the volcanic highlands of El Salvador, where James Hill, born in the slums of nineteenth-century Manchester, founded one of the world''s great coffee dynasties. Adapting the innovations of the industrial revolution to plantation agriculture, Hill helped to turn El Salvador into perhaps the most intensive monoculture in modern history, a place of extraordinary productivity, inequality and violence.The book follows coffee from the Hill family plantations into the United States, through the San Francisco roasting plants into supermarkets, kitchens and work places, and finally into today''s omnipresent cafés. Sedgewick reveals the unexpected consequences of the rise of coffee, which reshaped large areas of the tropics, transformed understandings of energy, and ultimately made us dependent on a drug served in a cup.''Gripping'' The Spectator''An eye-opening, stimulating brew'' The EconomistTrade ReviewWonderful, energising ... Coffeeland is a data-rich piece of original research that shows in compelling detail how coffee capitalism has delivered both profit and pain, comfort and terror to different people at different times over the past 200 years ... Sedgwick's great achievement is to clothe macroeconomics in warm, breathing flesh. -- Kathryn Hughes * The Guardian *Thoroughly engrossing ... his literary gifts and prodigious research make for a deeply satisfying reading experience studded with narrative surprise. Sedgewick has a knack for the sparkling digression and arresting jump cut, hopping back and forth between El Salvador and the wider world. -- Michael Pollan * The Atlantic *Both a curio-shop of forgotten snippets of history and quirky facts - who knew mocha was so called because it was shipped out of a Yemeni port of the same name? - as well as a theory of the modern world ... there is much here to entertain, educate and - dare one say it of a book about coffee - stimulate. -- David Pilling * Financial Times *Sedgewick's gripping book exposes the dark heart of what goes into making a ubiquitous commodity, cherished every morning, enshrined in the workplace and appreciated after a meal. It provides a devastating answer to the question: 'What does it mean to be connected to faraway people and places through everyday things?' -- Colin Greenwood * The Spectator *An erudite and engrossing socioeconomic history ... With a forensic grasp of detail, Sedgewick charts the rise of mass-marketing and modern retail strategies through the story of the humble coffee bean ... Yet Coffeeland's poignant message runs wider still. Ultimately, the story of coffee, today's 'unrivaled work drug', is also the story of globalisation. -- Oliver Balch * Literary Review *Many fascinating details... Mr Sedgewick's book is a parable of how a commodity can link producers, consumers, markets and politics in unexpected ways. Like the drink it describes, it is an eye-opening, stimulating brew. * The Economist *[A] beautifully written, engaging and sprawling portrait of how coffee made modern El Salvador, while it also helped to remake consumer habits worldwide. * New York Times *It's a rich and complex story and the book is full of glances at the history of the times ... This is a staggeringly well-researched piece of work. -- Roger Alton * Daily Mail *Impressive ... People and food as much as coffee itself are the focus of Sedgewick's concern and the nexus of some of the most surprising connections in Coffeeland ... A powerful indictment of labour relations in El Salvador and capitalism in general. -- Judith Hawley * Times Literary Supplement *Epic, illuminating ... Coffeeland functions not just as the story of one country's relationship to coffee, but as a pocket history of globalisation itself ... It is a story very worth telling - and one that reaches out far beyond so-called "Coffeeland" itself. -- Tim Smith-Laing * Daily Telegraph *Informed and entertaining ... Coffeeland is thoroughly researched and Sedgewick is a stylish writer. -- Ed Cumming * i newspaper *Extremely wide-ranging and well researched, Sedgewick's story reaches out into American political history ... The originality and ambition of Sedgewick's work is that he insistently sees the dynamic between producer and consumer-Central American peasant and North American proletarian-not merely as one of exploited and exploiter but as a manufactured co-dependence between two groups both exploited by capitalism. -- Adam Gopnik * New Yorker *Meticulously researched, vivid in its scene-setting, fine-toothed in its sociopolitical analysis . . . Coffeeland lays bare the history and reality behind that cup of joe you're drinking. -- Michael Upchurch * Boston Globe *How did a cup of coffee become the everyday addiction of millions? In this impressively wide-ranging, personality-filled history, Augustine Sedgewick untangles the routes that carried coffee from the slopes of El Salvador's volcanoes ... To enter Coffeeland is to visit a realm of ruthless entrepreneurs, hard-working laborers, laboratory chemists, and guerrilla fighters. -- Maya Jasanoff, author of THE DAWN WATCHCapitalism has remade the global countryside in radical ways. Coffeeland brilliantly chronicles this most consequential revolution by telling the global history of one family. After reading Augustine Sedgewick's fast-paced book you will never be able to think about your morning coffee in quite the same way. -- Sven Beckert, author of EMPIRE OF COTTONCoffeeland will set a new standard ... an innovative study of work, of the work involved to produce a drink needed by workers to keep working. Sedgewick treats coffee not so much as a material commodity but rather more like intangible energy ... provocative and convincing. -- Greg Grandin, author of THE END OF THE MYTH

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Book SynopsisThe Sunday Times bestseller *Shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize*A New Statesman and Spectator Book of the Year''This book calls for nothing less than a revolution in the future of food'' Kate RaworthFrom the bestselling author of Feral, a breathtaking first glimpse of a new future for food and for humanityFarming is the world''s greatest cause of environmental destruction - and the one we are least prepared to talk about. We criticise urban sprawl, but farming sprawls across thirty times as much land. We have ploughed, fenced and grazed great tracts of the planet, felling forests, killing wildlife, and poisoning rivers and oceans to feed ourselves. Yet millions still go hungry.Now the food system itself is beginning to falter. But, as George Monbiot shows us in this brilliant, bracingly original new book, we can resolve the biggest of our dilemmas and feed the world without devouring the planet.Regenesis is a breathtaking vision of a new future for food and for humanity. Drawing on astonishing advances in soil ecology, Monbiot reveals how our changing understanding of the world beneath our feet could allow us to grow more food with less farming. He meets the people who are unlocking these methods, from the fruit and vegetable grower revolutionising our understanding of fertility; through breeders of perennial grains, liberating the land from ploughs and poisons; to the scientists pioneering new ways to grow protein and fat. Together, they show how the tiniest life forms could help us make peace with the planet, restore its living systems, and replace the age of extinction with an age of regenesis.Trade ReviewThis book calls for nothing less than a revolution in the future of food - one that will literally transform the face of the Earth, to make food affordable for all while restoring the living world. Such a vision sounds near impossible, but Monbiot reveals the food pioneers whose extraordinary innovations could bring it within reach. Never shying from controversy, Regenesis weaves the poetry of soil into the politics of farming to shake the ground on which we all grow. This is Monbiot's masterpiece: an urgent and exhilarating journey into remaking what and how we eat -- Kate RaworthRegenesis speaks to us like a poem that begins with a phantasmagoria of that which lies under the soil, offers a magnificent political economy of global food production and concludes with a hopeful vision of a techno-ethical equilibrium between Humanity and Nature. It must be read -- Yanis VaroufakisPeople from all walks of life should read this remarkable book. It is in my view one of the two or three most important books to appear this century -- Prof. Sir David King, former Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK GovernmentAs we begin to rethink our relationship with Nature, the unstinting work of George Monbiot becomes ever more valuable. Monbiot has been at the cutting edge of the discussion for decades, and his extraordinary book covers this complex, evolving subject with depth and breadth, sincerity and humour. I never cease to be surprised by the unexpected perspectives he brings to bear, leading me through problems I never envisaged and solutions I never imagined. We are left with the hope that the solutions might triumph, that we might make it through -- Brian EnoA book offering evidence-based hope is a rare thing in these days of climate and nature emergency - yet that's exactly what George Monbiot has written. Inspiring and compelling, Regenesis sets out a transformative vision of a new food future with the potential to both restore nature and feed the world. Monbiot's blueprint is both wildly ambitious and deeply practical, and might well be our last best hope of stopping the sixth great extinction -- Caroline LucasThis remarkable book, staring curiously down at the soil beneath our feet, points us convincingly in one of the directions we must travel. I learned something on every page -- Bill McKibbenGeorge Monbiot clears paths towards solutions that lie dormant within us, which, if embraced, could transform our world and our societies into better places. He reaches for new ideas that might ignite the collective consciousness in a push to protect, rather than tragically destroy, the biosphere. Read George Monbiot and you will meet the cheerful courage and passion of a fellow traveller on this earth who seeks authentic hope -- ANOHNIFor anyone who cares about where our food comes from and its impact on the planet Regenesis is essential reading. This deeply researched book lifts the lid on our current methods of food production and all its dirty secrets: but more than that it provides a blueprint for the future. Monbiot pursues the key question: how can we have healthy food that's cheap enough for everyone to eat? His answers provide critical pathways towards a way to feed the planet -- Rosie BoycottForget Elon Musk's dry-as-dust retro sci-fi fantasies, George Monbiot gives us an inspiring vision of the future that is alive and kicking and grounded in the latest scientific discoveries. George Monbiot has combined his gifts as an investigator, interviewer and witty storyteller to create an exhiliarating epic! -- Robert NewmanA fascinating and ultimately positive book ... a harmonic vision of how changing our relationship to land use, farming and the food that we eat could transform our lives -- Thom YorkeWonderful ... Monbiot shows that the thin layer on which all terrestrial ecosystems stand is alive with organisms as diverse, fascinating and mysterious as any found above ground. He shatters the shibboleths of farming, showing the way to a radical transformation of agricultural practices and exciting new opportunities for nourishment -- David SuzukiRegenesis is a world-making, world-changing book; at once visionary and rigorous and practicable. It rings and sings throughout with Monbiot's extraordinary combination of passion, generosity and justice. It is braced by his unshakeable commitment to bettering the planet for all its inhabitants, human and other-than-human. It is a thrilling work, more ambitious even than its predecessor, Feral, and it gripped me as I read. Recognising that "the future is underground", Monbiot shows us that the possibility for a transformed relationship with food, the living world and each other lies just beneath our feet, right under our noses -- Robert MacfarlaneA brilliant, mesmerizing, vital book. Beneath each square meter of soil live thousands of species, and each chapter of George Monbiot's eye-opening exploration of that soil and its potential is similarly, dynamically rich-delivering a whole new way of thinking about our agriculture and our diets, our climate and our future. And much needed hope, besides -- David Wallace-WellsA genuinely brilliant, inspirational book ... George Monbiot embarks on a journey of discovery, realising that soil and its role in our life is bigger than everything else. Halfway through, I felt like a child who was bursting to share a secret with anyone who would listen. By the time I had finished reading, I felt as if the purest mountain stream had washed through my brain, and Monbiot had shared the most fundamentally important insight of his life -- Sir Tim Smit, Founder of the Eden ProjectYou may think you are across environmental and climate change issues, but think again. This passionate, extraordinary book opens up a compelling and vital new dimension: food and the way the world farms -- Will HuttonWith rigour, singular bravery and an infectious love for the living world, George Monbiot presents the Silent Spring of our time. Regenesis is an eye-watering reckoning of humanity's land and food crisis and an astonishing vision of survival and restoration. Monbiot takes us on a journey from the rhizospheres and the drilospheres through soil ecology, cultural myths, to the future of food all bound together with his own wonder-ful, beautifully-written observations. There is no topic more important for planetary survival than land and food, and there is no writer willing to dispense of bullshit, tell us the truth, and take on powerful forces and perceived wisdom like George Monbiot. A visionary, fearless, essential book -- Lucy JonesMonbiot rolls up his sleeves and pulls on his boots for an uncompromising session of agricultural dragon-slaying and foodie myth-busting. Unafraid to propose a new world order for farming and food production that is kinder to both people and planet, Regenesis is rigorous and restive, but also witty, original and humane. Let us hope it is read, digested and acted on by people, politicians and policy-makers the world over -- Hugh Fearnley-WhittingstallI am so grateful George Monbiot has applied his razor sharp intellect, bountiful curiosity and love for the land to the complex and fundamental issue of what we eat. This book offers a deep dive into the most essential question of our time - how might we feed ourselves without destroying our planet in the process? -- Lily ColeThis is an important book and a gripping read. It will enflame vested interests on all sides. Because Monbiot has that most aggravating of gifts - the ability lucidly to point out things that people desperately do not want to be true -- Henry DimblebyHow can we ensure that everyone is fed without destroying the biosphere? Regenesis is a lively and deeply researched enquiry that confronts our dilemmas head on. There are no easy answers, but Monbiot provides a brilliant guide to asking the right questions. Transformation is urgently needed and this book shows how it is possible -- Merlin SheldrakeGeorge Monbiot is a very skilful writer, and Regenesis shows all his powers at full stretch. He seems to see more fully than almost anyone else in this field, with a clarity of attention both to the smallest realities of a handful of soil and to the widest implications of the way human beings have lived and continue to live in the world. Telling things in the right order doesn't seem like one of the functions of the imagination, but again and again Monbiot shows that it is, with all the imaginative sympathy of a great storyteller as well as the overarching understanding of a moral visionary. This is a fine and necessary book -- Philip PullmanGeorge Monbiot is one of the most fearless and important voices in the global climate movement today -- Greta ThunbergI used to look up to the stars for thoughts of infinity, eternity and divine cooperation. This book revealed to me I could find the same inspiration beneath the soles of my feet in less than a foot of soil. My walks on earth will never be the same as they were. The writing, observation and devotion is infectiously compelling. The learning is deep and immense -- Mark RylanceA magnificent new overview of how we might live and feed ourselves without destroying ourselves ... It is riveting ... Along with a dazzling array of stats, there's also impressive investigative reporting ... rich food for thought, devastating figures, startling insights and even the odd joke ... A hugely important read -- Christopher Hart * The Sunday Times *A call to raze the pastoral imaginary so that we can begin to think clearly about how we produce food and steward the soil ... To have any chance of turning the age of extinction into an age of regeneration, systemic reform, based on the facts, not pastoral myth-making, is essential -- Philippa Nuttall * New Statesman *Colossally important... You've got to read it -- Max Porter (via Twitter)A treasure trove of hope and solutions, and a vision for a sustainable, healthy, equitable world. We meet inspiring farmers as well as some radical solutions ... Comprehensive, devastating, rousing ... An essential book -- Rowan Hooper * New Scientist *Big ideas, beautifully written and the portraits of people building the alternatives are gorgeous! Makes you angry and enraptured with the beauty of the natural world all at once -- Aaron Bastani (via Twitter)A paean to the wonder that is the ecology of soil, scientifically informed and beautifully told. The perfect bank holiday read -- Yadvinder Malhi, Professor of Ecosystem Science at the University of OxfordPhenomenal. Clear, eloquent, fearless and devastating in its analysis. A revolution in the future of food -- Adam Rutherford (via Twitter)Glorious ... intelligent, deeply researched .... The point Monbiot makes so ably and so necessarily is that system change is both essential and possible through a complexity of solutions ... The stakes could not be higher. If a book can change hearts and minds about one of the most critical issues of our time, this rational, humane polemic is it -- Gaia Vince * Observer *Revolutionary ... Rigorous, bold and clear-sighted ... To conjure the miracle of more food with less farming, we need to rethink what lies beneath our feet -- David Farrier * Prospect *Vivid and memorable... Regenesis is a compelling, deeply researched account of a deeply broken food system and how we might heal it * Irish Times *A compelling story of soil, food and farming * Financial Times *Ambitious and deeply researched ... Monbiot exposes, with journalistic flair, the 'gulf between perception and reality' about where and how our food is produced ... it includes some fascinating case studies ... bristling with ideas and imagination -- Laura Battle * Financial Times *Eye-opening, persuasive, meticulously researched [...] Monbiot thinks globally [... and] his arguments take account of the needs of everyone in society -- Amy Liptrot * Guardian *A paean to soil, told more gracefully and memorably than anyone before him... Regenesis is likely to become a classic. Monbiot is a writer of the first rank -- Bill McKibben * Times Literary Supplement *Inspiring, courageous, and bursting with ideas -- Jeremy Williams * The Earthbound Report *

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Book SynopsisThis unique book is an exciting global journey into the origins, technologies, and recipes of ancient beer as well as into beer's continued importance today in diet, ritual, and economics.Trade ReviewIt is only the beer drinkers that survived long enough to reproduce and pass their genes in our direction. Beer has been at the heart of most societies on earth-and this book is an authoritative and fascinating dip into thousands of years of fertile history of the world's favorite adult beverage. * Charles Bamforth, author of In Praise of Beer *If you've ever wondered, as a brewer or beer aficionado, what a brew from thousands of years ago in Africa or anywhere else on planet Earth might have tasted like and how it was made, this is the book for you. John W. Arthur's globetrotting doesn't stop in the past as he ventures into remote villages and tribal conclaves of today and captivates you with traditional beers of all kinds. These brews celebrated life, sustained gods and ancestors, or simply brought a joie de vivre to our everyday life. * Patrick E. McGovern, author of Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer, and Other Alcoholic Beverages and Ancient Brews: Rediscovered and Re-created *This wonderful book richly documents the foundational role that beer, and beer-enhanced sociality, has played in human societies around the world for over 10,000 years. Although beer and other chemical intoxicants are too often given short shrift by scholars, Arthur demonstrates that it is impossible to fully understand the technology, economics, health and nutritional outcomes, ritual practices, or social structures of most cultures without understanding how beer is produced, traded, and consumed. Impressively detailed and comprehensive. * Edward Slingerland, author of Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced, and Stumbled Our Way to Civilization *Arthur's book belongs in every serious library. Highly recommended. * Choice *The text is quite accessible and could easily be incorporated into upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses. * Liza Gijanto, African Archaeological Review *Table of Contents1. Introduction - Beer is Food 2. The Diversity of Indigenous Beer Production 3. Near Eastern and Asian Beers: Stone Bowls, Red-Crown Cranes, Ancient Hymns, and Ancestral Spirits 4. African Beers: Feeding the Living and the Ancestors 5. European Beers: Henges, Vikings, Monks, and Our Favorite Brews 6. Meso- and South American Beers: Beer Fuels Runners, Roads, and Feasts 7. Tapped Out Index

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Book SynopsisSam Bilton explores our complex relationship with this versatile confection, which is made from the humble beans of the tropical cacao tree.

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Book SynopsisThe tomato gets no respect. Never has. Lost in the dustbin of history for centuries, accused of being vile and poisonous, subjected to being picked hard-green and gassed, even used as a projectile, the poor tomato has become the avatar for our disaffection with industrial foods - while becoming the most popular vegetable in America (and, in fact, the world). Each summer, tomato festivals crop up across the country; the Heinz ketchup bottle, instantly recognizable, has earned a spot in the Smithsonian; and now the tomato is redefining the very nature of farming, moving from fields into climate-controlled mega-greenhouses the size of New England villages. Supported by meticulous research and told in a lively, accessible voice, Ten Tomatoes That Changed the World seamlessly weaves travel, history, humour, and a little adventure (and misadventure) to follow the tomato's trail through history. A fascinating story complete with heroes, con artists, conquistadors, and-no surprise-the Mafia, this book is a mouth-watering, informative, and entertaining guide to the food that has captured our hearts for generations.

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