Eating Culture

Ron Scapp is Director of the Graduate Program in Urban and Multicultural Education at the College of Mount Saint Vincent, The Bronx, where he teaches education and philosophy. Brian Seitz teaches philosophy at Babson College, and is the author of The Trace of Political Representation, also published by SUNY Press.

"The probing and finely detailed analyses of contemporary eating practices provided by Eating Culture make it an important contribution to contemporary cultural studies. Although the book takes as its subject a topic of obvious significance both to the general public and to specialists, I am aware of no comparable study of eating practices. (The related studies in existence are, by comparison, dated.) Eating Culture breaks new ground in approaching a central aspect of contemporary life with exemplary sophistication, subtlety, and wit. One of the collection's chief merits is its inclusiveness: the selections approach the general topic from widely divergent political and philosophical perspectives. Eating Culture is a fascinating read." — Kathleen Brogan, Wellesley College"I am tempted to call this volume a real smorgasbord of reflection on the question of the relationship between eating and culture, but as I've learned from reading these essays, there are probably all sorts of racist, sexist, and classist assumptions informing this seemingly innocent analogy, so I'll simply say that this volume presents some of the most thoughtful and savory work I've ever read on the subject. This volume has made me reflect upon the everyday act of eating in truly unexpected ways; one doesn't eat out, or even at home, in exactly the same way after reading Eating Culture."—Michael Naas, DePaul University

• IntroductionRon Scapp and Brian Seitz 1. Hunger as IdeologySusan Bordo 2. "GET FAT, Don't Die!": Eating and AIDS in Gay Men's CultureSteven F. Kruger 3. Eating AnimalsCarol J. Adams 4. Eating Out: Voluptuosity for DessertDavid Farrell Krell 5. Only FoodMarianna Beck 6. The Careers of ChefsPriscilla Parkhurst Ferguson and Sharon Zukin 7. A Place at the Counter: The Onus of OnenessMary Lukanuski 8. AppetiteAlphonso Lingis 9. Untitled Artists' Projects by Janine Antoni, Ben Kinmont, Rirkrit TiravanijaLaura Trippi 10. Edible Architecture, Cannibal ArchitectureAllen S. Weiss 11. Food, Health, and Native-American Farming and GatheringGary Paul Nabhan 12. Eating the Other: Desire and Resistancebell hooks 13. Dining Out: The Hyperactivity of AppetiteJoanne Finkelstein 14. Feeding the Audience: Food, Feminism, and Performance ArtDeborah R. Geis 15. A Supper PartyDiana Fuss 16. A Postcard History of the U.S. RestaurantJeff Weinstein 17. Soul Food: Where the Chitterling Hits the (Primal) PanDoris Witt 18. "Fable Number One": Some Myths about ConsumptionEd Schiffer 19. Bubbie's ChallahStephen Steinberg Contributors