The Art of Not Eating: A Doubtful History of Appetite and Desire

(Hardback, Main)

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'Fascinating' Katherine May'Beautifully written, lyrical and unflinching' Charlotte Fox WeberThe day Jessica Hamel-Akr discovered the ideas of George Cheyne - an eighteenth-century polymath and London society figure known as 'Dr Diet' - it sparked an intellectual obsession, a ten-year study of women's appetite and a personal unravelling. In this bold and radical book, Hamel-Akr follows Cheyne through the pages of medical studies, novels and historical scandals, meeting ash-eating mystics, wasting society girls, impoverished female fasters and early feminist philosophers, all of whom were once grappling with nascent ideas around food, longing and the body. In doing so, she uncovers the eighteenth-century origins of both today's diet culture and her own troubled relationship with wanting.Blending history and memoir, The Art of Not Eating will change the way we look at appetite, desire, rationality and oppression, and show how it all got tangled up with what we eat.

Reviews

A fascinating exploration of the deep roots of our diet culture, and a very personal account of its current repercussions * Katherine May, author of Wintering *
A beautifully written, lyrical and unflinching exploration of our relationships with eating and food. Hamel-Akr takes us into the heart of human experiences. This book is psychologically illuminating and, most importantly, deeply fascinating * Charlotte Fox Weber, author of What We Want *

Author Bio

Jessica Hamel-Akr is an award-winning historian, researcher and cultural strategy consultant. She holds a PhD from the University of Montreal and was a postdoctoral scholar in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and Newnham College where she conducted a seven year study on the history of appetite control. An expert in the history of women's health, literature and feminist thought, she has helped some of the world's biggest brands navigate emerging ideas around gender, digital wellbeing and beauty. Jessica co-created and presented on the BBC Radio 4 documentary The Unexpected History of Clean Eating.