Food and Language

"The human mouth is a paradoxical organ, used for opposed activities of speaking and eating, communication and commensality, meaning and materiality. This pioneering textbook, organized as a series of encounters between food and language, serves as a unique and welcome introduction to both linguistic anthropology and the anthropology of food." - Paul Manning, Trent University, Canada "This book by Kathleen C. Riley and Amy L. Paugh is an excellent and needed resource for scholars and students in Linguistic Anthropology and allied fields interested in the intersection of food and language. With sophisticated content written in clear and accessible language, the authors provide a valuable overview of contemporary approaches to studying the multidirectional influences between linguistic and cultural practices about and surrounding food and illustrate with effective ethnographic examples." - Alexandra Jaffe, California State University, USA

Kathleen C. Riley teaches linguistic anthropology at Rutgers University, USA. She has conducted fieldwork on foodways and language socialization in French Polynesia, France, Qubec, and New York City. She has co-edited (with Christine Jourdan) a special issue of Anthropologie et Socits on food glocalization and (with Jillian Cavanaugh) a special issue of the Semiotic Review on food and language. Amy L. Paugh is a Professor of Anthropology at James Madison University, USA. Her research investigates language and food, language socialization, and childrens cultures in Dominica, Caribbean, and the United States. She is the author of Playing with Languages: Children and Change in a Caribbean Village.

List of Illustrations; Preface; Copyright Acknowledgements; Chapter 1 Introduction: Talking Food Across Cultures; Chapter 2 The Communicating Eater; Chapter 3 Procuring and Processing Food-and-Language Data; Chapter 4 Language Through Food; Chapter 5 Language About Food; Chapter 6 Language Around Food; Chapter 7 Language As Food; Chapter 8 Applying the Food-and-Language Model; Glossary; Appendix: Ethnography of SPEAKING-and-FEEDING; Index