Eating Culture: An Anthropological Guide to Food

by Gillian Crowther

Humans have an appetite for food, and anthropology—as the study of human beings, their culture, and society—has an interest in the role of food. From ingredients and recipes to meals and menus across time and space, Eating Culture is a highly engaging overview that illustrates the important role that anthropology and anthropologists have played in understanding food. Organized around the sometimes elusive concept of cuisine and the public discourse—on gastronomy, nutrition, sustainability, and culinary skills—that surrounds it, this practical guide to anthropological method and theory brings order and insight to our changing relationship with food.

Genres: Anthropology, Food, Nonfiction, Social Science, Food History, Food and Drink, Textbooks

360 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2013

Reviews

[Matt Shaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book exhibits an identity conflict. The first three-fourths of it work fairly well (if densely) at the advanced-undergraduate level as an anthropological overview of foods, cuisine, culture identities, and the social communication involved in food production and consumption. Mostly pretty good stuff, and I was pleased that Crowther presents a range of theoretical perspectives without really favoring one over the other (huzzah for leaning on Malinowski!). From the middle of Chapter Seven onwards, however, the issues that had been in the background come forward and swamp the work into a frustrating might-have-been.

Let me preface the following by stating that I have taught four-field anthropology at universities for years; I'm not simply a "user" with this platform. I question what audience UTPress intended for this project.

The text is sufficiently verbose and over-written that undergraduates will not spare the time to read it. The analyses are too shallow for graduate students to need them. If a (very-)educated non-professional reader is imagined, then sticking to topic and avoiding jargon would have been better anthropology than the morass that is Chapters 8 and 9. Chapter 8 is not anthropology of food at all, it is a discourse on global politics delving into UN bodies (the FAO, WHO) and problems with globalization, warfare, climate change, and population displacement more at home in any Poli Sci course than in the midst of this material. It is intrusive between chapters 7 and 9, derailing the topical flow and should have been relegated to an appendix or another book altogether.

Worse, Crowther seizes a Postmodernist, iconoclastic platform and begins to flaunt both jargon and perspectives that antagonize colleagues and confuse the hell out of students by turning from "is" statements to "ought" statements, critiquing the world as it works. Coffee as a trade commodity is NOT cultural appropriation, GC; otherwise the Neolithic spread of agriculture would be problematic for you, now wouldn't it? Who the hell uses terms like "ethnosite"? And "global ideoscape of cosmopolitanism" (p. 257)? Really? Yer killin' me, Smalls.

Editing again seems to be the arrow in Achilles' heel, since these issues could have been ameliorated: Chapter 8 could have been moved, terms could have been altered or better defined. Paragraphs could have been cut down for easier comprehension. And some assertions certainly could have been fact-checked. I leave you all with this proofing humdinger from Chapter 9: "But this act presents a challenge to locavorism: tea and coffee, and other much-loved foods such as olive oil, chocolate, bananas, and many spices, cannot be grown in the northern hemisphere" (p. 278). On this planet, those are ALL grown in the northern hemisphere.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crowther is laying out an overview of what it means to conduct anthropological work in food by tracing the prevailing arguments about what different aspects of food research can be investigated in this manner. She lays out the key figures in the field, then proceeds to questions of classification, production, industrialization, kitchen work, recipes and dishes, eating as a form of community (commensality), eating out (gastronomy, and the cultivation of taste), issues of food security and policy, and globalization. Ceertainly not everything can become a key category of analysis for her in this format, and because this is meant to serve as an overview textbook, there are fundamental limits to how much original material she can actually provide. Yet through the exercises of the book and the numerous figures cited, she lays out points of discussion that are meant to help us look closely, and look distantly, at how food can be studied to understand global society, systems, and change. This is undoubtedly written from a structuralist perspective, and not providing much primary research apart from short framings from her past ethnographic research, and there are key sections missing on how food can be read as expressions of bodily values and identity hierarchies, particularly along the lines of gender, race, ethnicity, and sexuality. Yet it is still a highly useful text to help us think about each of these topics and its broad strokes. (A very handy glossary and list of key texts is at the back.)

[Carmen Pérez · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Cuisine is much more than a sum of dishes, it is everything we have, think, and do with food”. This book is inviting for graduate and undergraduate senior students. Each chapter begins with a list of Learning Objectives. The introduction includes core theories and methodologies of many major food theorists, by imagining them at a dinner party together. Crowther discusses ethnographic researches from all over the world, written in a narrative fashion that is easy to follow. The author emphasizes the discussion of the globalization of food production, distribution, and consumption. It also illustrates the important roles that anthropology and anthropologists play in understanding food and its vital place in the study of culture. The book also includes a glossary with more than 60 terms. Eating Culture is a useful classroom tool. I give it 4 stars out of 5.

[Tim Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This Canadian anthropology University professor and esteemed writer on Food/Cuisine/Cooking in its social contexts has kept current with terms as far as ongoing developments that are timely and evolving. The appreciation of what's called "Paleo" diet means that people of all types and ages need to understand how cooking and sharing meals continues beyond our early history / pre-history as far as human hunters / gatherers / agriculturalists and food preparers-servers-appreciators. Great glossary and I understand that Prof. Crowther will have a 3rd edition of this textbook-quality book ready for book buyers and sophisticated general readers hot off the presses by June 2025. I look forward to seeing the version for this decade! 5 out of 5 stars.

[TheEditingCompany · Rating 5 out of 5]

Substantive edit and copy edited by The Editing Company.

[Mills College Library]

394.12 C9539 2013