Why Food Matters: Critical Debates in Food Studies

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What is food and why does it matter Bringing together the most innovative, cutting-edge scholarship and debates, this reader provides an excellent introduction to the rapidly growing discipline of food studies. Covering a wide range of theoretical perspectives and disciplinary approaches, it challenges common ideas about food and identifies emerging trends which will define the field for years to come. A fantastic resource for both teaching and learning, the book features: - a comprehensive introduction to the text and to each of the four parts, providing a clear, accessible overview and ensuring a coherent thematic focus throughout - 20 articles on topics that are guaranteed to engage student interest, including molecular gastronomy, lab-grown meat and other futurist foods, microbiopolitics, healthism and nutritionism, food safety, ethics, animal welfare, fair trade, and much more - discussion questions and suggestions for further reading which help readers to think further about the issues raised, reinforcing understanding and learning. Edited by Melissa L. Caldwell, one of the leaders in the field, Why Food Matters is the essential textbook for courses in food studies, anthropology of food, sociology, geography, and related subjects.

Reviews

A dynamite collection that brings together cutting-edge scholarship from leading figures working in food studies and anthropology. * DAVID SUTTON, PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY, SOUTHERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY, USA *
With an introduction that synthesizes compelling themes connecting anthropology to political economy, science and technology studies, and ontological concerns, this book speaks to a range of scholars in many fields. * BRAD WEISS, PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY, COLLEGE OF WILLIAM & MARY, USA *
This collection of case studies from across the world offers a provocative unsettling of what we think food is. Why Food Matters takes food studies exactly where it needs to go at a critical inflection point for the field itself. * HARLOTTE BILTEKOFF, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF AMERICAN STUDIES & FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS, USA *

Author Bio

Melissa L. Caldwell is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California at Santa Cruz, USA. She was also the sole editor of Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies until 2019.