Description
Book SynopsisFabio Parasecoli identifies and defines the phenomenon of “gastronativism,” the ideological use of food to advance ideas about who belongs to a community and who does not. Featuring a wide array of examples from all over the world, this book is a timely, incisive, and lively analysis of how and why food has become a powerful political tool.
Trade ReviewFabio Parasecoli draws on his deep international experience in this thoughtful analysis of how food gets ensnared in political ideology to separate “us” from “them.”
Gastronativism argues convincingly that food systems are indeed global, and the sooner we get those systems to bring people together, the better. -- Marion Nestle, author of
Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and HealthThis timely book clearly shows how foods have become tangible tools for people’s frustrations with global social change. Parasecoli unpacks the ‘gastronativist’ demands and actions of people and communities who use food to score political points, stoke vicious resentment, and resist globalization. His engaging and readable prose helps us understand the bitterness that can season contemporary food politics. -- Michaela DeSoucey, author of
Contested Tastes: Foie Gras and the Politics of FoodThis book coins and explains the concept of gastronativism to help us understand how and why food has transformed into a powerful ideological tool. Using a wide array of timely examples from all over the world, Parasecoli shows how food is increasingly invoked in efforts to construct ideas of an ‘Us’ and a ‘Them,’ offering an important framework for understanding the ways food and identity-making intersect in our globalized world. -- Emma McDonell, coauthor of
Critical Approaches to Superfoods[The author] makes the case in this book for why food is so useful as a political too. * Parliament *
One of the strengths of Parasecoli’s far-ranging book is its ability to tie together seemingly disparate food-related phenomena into a coherent pattern through a wealth of examples. * Food Anthropology *
This volume provides great resources, both through its content and its rich bibliography encompassing trade, food studies, political journalism, and heritage studies, and will provide an enlightening read for food studies students, scholars, and even those “cosmopolitan gastronomes” (p.87) among whom many of us likely figure. * Anthropology of Food *
Table of ContentsPreface
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Enter Gastronativism
Part I: Gastronativism1. Defending Privilege: Exclusionary Gastronativism
2. Toward a Better Future: Non-Exclusionary Gastronativism
Part II: The Power of Food3. Food and Identity
4. Food and Power
Part III: Borders and Flows5. Food, Nations, and Nationalism
6. Food and Diplomacy
7. National Products in the Global Market
Part IV: Between Here and There8. Migrant Food
9. Contagions
Conclusion: What Future?
Notes
Index
