ABSTRACT
Food has been described by the sociologist Anthony Winson (1993, p. 1) as ‘the intimate commodity’. It is inherently material: food is fundamental to survival and getting fed is in many ways a practical matter (Harris, 1986). Yet food is also a social and cultural good. It is deeply symbolic (Levi Strauss, 1970) and an important way in which social distinctions and hierarchies are drawn (Fischler, 1988). Food is also sensual: it is not only good to think with but good to eat (Abbots, 2017). Tastes may be cultural but preferences are also personal (Nettleton and Uprichard, 2011). The multidimensionality of food and its embeddedness in everyday life therefore make food a productive lens for examining social realities. But they can also make studying food and eating – let alone bringing about changes in patterns of food production and consumption – complicated. This book takes as its central focus an exploration of the diverse meanings of food and how we interrogate it. It is based on a rich range of empirical contributions that employ different framings of, and means of researching, food. In particular, this volume offers current analysis of topical areas and emergent interests in sociology.
