What we learn when an anthropologist and a historian talk about food.
From the origins of agriculture to contemporary debates over culinary authenticity, Ways of Eating introduces readers to world food history and food anthropology. Through engaging stories and historical deep dives, Benjamin A. Wurgaft and Merry I. White offer new ways to understand food in relation to its natural and cultural histories and the social rules that shape our meals.
Wurgaft and White use vivid storytelling to bring food practices to life, weaving stories of Panamanian coffee growers, medieval women beer makers, and Japanese knife forgers. From the Venetian spice trade to the Columbian Exchange, from Roman garum to Vietnamese nớc chấm, Ways of Eating provides an absorbing account of world food history and anthropology. Migration, politics, and the dynamics of group identity all shape what we eat, and we can learn to trace these social forces from the plate to the kitchen, the factory, and the field.
By:
Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft,
Merry White
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Volume: 81
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 23mm
Weight: 499g
ISBN: 9780520392984
ISBN 10: 0520392981
Series: California Studies in Food and Culture
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 30 November 2023
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Contents Acknowledgments Introduction VIGNETTE 1 Duccio’s Eden CHAPTER 1 Nature and Culture in the Origins Of Agriculture VIGNETTE 2 Akashiyaki at Nishi-Akashi CHAPTER 2 Staple Empires of the Ancient World VIGNETTE 3 Coffee and Pepper CHAPTER 3 Medieval Tastes VIGNETTE 4 Before Kimchi CHAPTER 4 The Columbian Exchange, or, the World Remade VIGNETTE 5 The Spirit Safe CHAPTER 5 Social Beverages and Modernity VIGNETTE 6 Authenticity in Panama CHAPTER 6 Colony and Curry VIGNETTE 7 The Icebox CHAPTER 7 Food’s Industrial Revolution VIGNETTE 8 Bricolage CHAPTER 8 Twentieth-Century Foodways, or, Big Food and Its Discontents VIGNETTE 9 Nem on the Menu CHAPTER 9 Ways of Eating Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index
Benjamin A. Wurgaft is a writer and historian. His previous books include Meat Planet: Artificial Flesh and the Future of Food and Thinking in Public: Strauss, Levinas, Arendt. Merry I. White is Professor of Anthropology at Boston University. Her previous books include Coffee Life in Japan and Perfectly Japanese: Making Families in an Era of Upheaval. The Japanese government has honored her work in the anthropology of Japan with the Order of the Rising Sun.
Reviews for Ways of Eating: Exploring Food through History and Culture
"""In a study that arcs gracefully from our changing understanding of the Neolithic Revolution to the era of genetically modified organisms, fast food, Slow Food, and environmental depletion, the focus is forward-facing."" * World of Fine Wine * ""Food has always provided ways of expressing cultural identity, regional differences, degrees of sophistication and economic status. Wurgaft and White trace these processes over centuries and across the globe. Their conclusions are both celebratory and thought-provoking."" * Inside Story *"
