Why Study Food? 

Food & Identity: Are We What We Eat?

Food and the Construction of Ethnic and Racial Identities

  • Diner, Hasia. Chapters 1 and 3, pp. 1-20, 48-83. Hungering for America: Italian, Irish, and Jewish Foodways in the Age of Migration. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2001. [Library ebook]
  • Poe, Tracey. “The Origins of Soul Food in Black Urban Identity: Chicago, 1915-1947,” American Studies International, 37:3 (1999): 4-33.
  • Conor Friedersdorf, “Food Fight at Oberlin College,” The Atlantic, December 21, 2015.
  • Carolina Moreno, “Portland Burrito Cart Closes after Owners are Accused of Cultural Appropriation,” Huffington Post,  May 25, 2017.
  • “Michael Twitty Explains the Cultural Appropriation of Food and Culinary Justice, Detroit Metro Times, April 17, 2017.
  • Tim Carman, “Should White Chefs Sell Burritos? A Portland Food Cart’s Revealing Controversy,” Washington Post, May 26, 2017.
  • Dakota Kim, “We’re Having the Wrong Conversation about Food and Cultural Appropriation,” Paste, June 6, 2017.

 Food and the Construction of Gender and Sexuality

Food, Nutrition & Health: What Should We Eat?

A Critical Introduction: The Work of Julie Guthman

  • Julie Guthman. “Fast Food/Organic Food: Reflexive Tastes and the Making of ‘Yuppie Chow.’” Social & Cultural Geography 4, no. 1, (2003): 45-58.
  • Julie Guthman. “Can’t Stomach It: How Michael Pollan et al. Made Me Want to Eat Cheetos.” Gastronomica 7, no. 3 (2007): 75-79.
  • Julie Guthman. “If They Only Knew:” Color Blindness and Universalism in California Alternative Food Institutions.” The Professional Geographer, 60, no. 3 (2008): 387–397.

Nutrition Science & Its Affects: What of Critical Nutrition Studies?

  • Biltekoff, Charlotte. “Critical Nutrition Studies,” in The Oxford Handbook of Food History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
  • Mudry, Jessica. “Introduction,” in Measured Meals: Nutrition in America. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2010, pp. 1-19.
  • Scrinis, Gyorgy. “Chapter Ten: After Nutritionism,” pp. 237-254 in Nutritionism: The Science and Politics of Dietary Advice. New York: Columbia University Press. 2013.
  • USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans 1990, Executive Summary.
  • USDA Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015, Executive Summary.
  • Contois, Emily. “A History of Food Guides, 1890-2015, Told through Photos—and Butter.”

Bad Diet as Public Health Crisis: The Obesity Epidemic

  • Oliver, J. Eric. Fat Politics: The Real Story behind America’s Obesity Epidemic. Oxford University Press, 2006.

Culture, Power, Access and Assistance: What Shapes the American Food System?

The Culture of the American Food System

  • McMillan, Tracie. The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee’s, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table. Scribner, 2012.

Hunger in America

  • Hunger in America (1968 documentary, CBS)
  • Hunger in America (2014 documentary: Kanopy Streaming 2015)
  • Rector, Robert (The Heritage Foundation), “Reducing Hunger and Very Low Food Insecurity,” Testimony before the US House National Commission on Hunger, 2015.
  • Berg, Joel. “Are Americans Hungry or Fat?”; “The Charity Myth”; and “Here It Is: The Plan to End Domestic Hunger,” From All You Can Eat: How Hungry is America? Seven Stories Press, 2008. 

Economics and Politics of Federal Food Assistance: The Case of SNAP

  • Overview of Federal Food Assistance Programs, Feeding America.
  • Tanner, Michael. “SNAP Failure: The Food Stamp Program Needs Reform.” Cato Institute Policy Analysis, no. 738 (September 1, 2013).
  • Rosario, Katherine. “Food Stamp Myths and Realities: Why Cuts Aren’t Catastrophic, ” The Heritage Foundation, Heritage Action (January 9, 2014).
  • Rosenbaum, Dorothy. SNAP is Effective and Efficient,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Reports (March 21, 2016).
  • Rosenbaum, Dotti and Keith-Jennings, Brynne. “House 2017 Budget Plan would Slash SNAP by Over 150 Billion in Ten Years,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Reports (March 11, 2013).
  • “A Closer Look at Who Benefits from SNAP,” Center on Budget Policy Priorities Reports (2016). )
  • Berkeley Food Institute. The Future of SNAP: Improving Nutrition Policy to Ensure (2015).

Food & Taste: Why Do We Like to Eat Food – and Read, Watch, Snap & Tweet It??

Food Media

  • Pollan, Michael. “Out of the Kitchen, Onto the Couch,” New York Times. August 2, 2009.
  • Johnston, Josée, Alexandra Rodney, and Phillipa Chong. “Making Change in the Kitchen? A Study of Celebrity Cookbooks, Culinary Personas, and Inequality.” Poetics 47 (2014): pp. 1-22.
  • Mcbride, Anne. “Food Porn.” Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture 10, no. 1 (Winter 2010), pp. 38-46.
  • Chris Schonberger and Justin Bolois. “The Problems With Food Media That Nobody Wants to Talk About.” First We Feast, February 3, 2016.

The Future of Food: How (and What) Will We Feed the World?

The Future of Food