Food: The Key Concepts

by Warren Belasco

Overview

Food: The Key Concepts presents an exciting, coherent and interdisciplinary introduction to food studies for the beginning reader. Food Studies is an increasingly complex field, drawing on disciplines as diverse as Sociology, Anthropology and Cultural Studies at one end and Economics, Politics and Agricultural Science at the other.

In order to clarify the issues, Food: The Key Concepts distills food choices down to three competing considerations: consumer identity; matters of convenience and price; and an awareness of the consequences of what is consumed. The book concludes with an examination of two very different future scenarios for feeding the world's population: the technological fix, which looks to science to provide the solution to our future food needs; and the anthropological fix, which hopes to change our expectations and behaviors.

Throughout, the analysis is illustrated with lively case studies. Bulleted chapter summaries, questions and guides to further reading are also provided.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781845206727
Publisher:	Berg Publishers
Publication date:	09/01/2008
Series:	The Key Concepts
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Warren Belasco is Professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Why Study Food? * Chapter 2: Identity: Are We What We Eat? * Chapter 3: The Drama of Food: Divided Identities * Chapter 4: Convenience: The Global Food Chain * Chapter 5: Responsibility: Do We Pay the Full Costs of Dinner? * Chapter 6: The Future of Food * Appendix: Questions for Discussion and Further Research * Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

Belasco's prose is easygoing and professorially humane.'” —The New York Times

From the Publisher

Belasco's prose is easygoing and professorially humane.'

The New York Times