Why Food Matters

Why Food Matters asks a fundamental question: what is food and why does it matter? Bringing together the most innovative, cutting-edge scholarship and debates, this reader provides an excellent introduction to the rapidly growing discipline of food studies. Covering a wide range of theoretical perspectives and disciplinary approaches, it challenges common ideas about food and identifies emerging trends which will define the field for years to come.

A fantastic resource for both teaching and learning, the book features:
- A comprehensive introduction to the text and to each of the five parts, providing a clear, accessible overview and ensuring a coherent thematic focus throughout
- Thirty articles on topics that are guaranteed to engage student interest, including molecular gastronomy, lab-grown meat and other futurist foods, microbiopolitics, healthism and nutritionism, food safety, ethics, animal welfare, fair trade, and many more
- Discussion questions and suggestions for further reading which help readers to think further about the issues raised, reinforcing understanding and learning

Edited by Melissa Caldwell, one of the leaders in the field, Why Food Matters is the essential textbook for courses in food studies, anthropology of food, sociology, geography, and related subjects.