Food Fights

What we eat, where it is from, and how it is produced are vital questions in today's America. We think seriously about food because it is freighted with the hopes, fears, and anxieties of modern life. Yet critiques of food and food systems all too often sprawl into jeremiads against modernity itself, while supporters of the status quo refuse to acknowledge the problems with today's methods of food production and distribution. Food Fights sheds new light on these crucial debates, using a historical lens. Its essays take strong positions, even arguing with one another, as they explore the many themes and tensions that define how we understand our food--from the promises and failures of agricultural technology to the politics of taste.

In addition to the editors, contributors include Ken Albala, Amy Bentley, Charlotte Biltekoff, Peter A. Coclanis, Tracey Deutsch, S. Margot Finn, Rachel Laudan, Sarah Ludington, Margaret Mellon, Steve Striffler, and Robert T. Valgenti.

"What we eat, where it is from, and how it is produced are vital questions in today's America. We think seriously about food because it is freighted with the hopes, fears, and anxieties of modern life. Yet critiques of food and food systems all too often sprawl into jeremiads against modernity itself, while supporters of the status quo refuse to acknowledge the problems with today's methods of food production and distribution. Food Fights sheds new light on these crucial debates, using a historical lens. Its essays take strong positions, even arguing with one another, as they explore the many themes and tensions that define how we understand our food--from the promises and failures of agricultural technology to the politics of taste"--
Charles C. Ludington is teaching associate professor of history at North Carolina State University.
Matthew Morse Booker is associate professor of history at North Carolina State University.
Food Fights brings historical context to food studies, giving consideration and depth to how historical forces have shaped our current food system. . . . Ludington and Booker have curated an engaging and informative volume of thirteen essays. . . . The variety of perspectives offered . . . allows us to appreciate the current food system, warts and all, more sympathetically.--Nature Food