Food and Sustainability

Martina Topić-Rutherford is an Associate Professor in Public Relations Leadership at the University of Alabama, College of Communication and Information Sciences, Department of Advertising and PR, USA.Marija Geiger Zeman is a Senior Research Scientist in Sociology at the Institute of Social Sciences Ivo Pilar in Zagreb, Croatia.

This new book, Food and Sustainability: Communication, PR, and the Culture of Responsibility, edited by Topić-Rutherford and Zeman provides an innovative and comprehensive perspective to investigate the role of public relations and communication in shaping the culture of responsible and sustainable food consumption, an understudied area in public relations. The edition presents scholarly contributions from top scholars in the field of public relations on various topics related to sustainability and responsibility in the context of the global food system, ranging from food preparation, representation, consumption, and communication. More importantly, in an age crying out for responsible and sustainable communications and behaviors, chapters collected in this edition provide critical lenses across cultural, economic, social, and political boundaries to reflect the field’s latest studies and practices in an interesting and engaging style that help scholars, educators, professionals, influencers, policy makers, students and foodies grasp the complexities of the “missing” culture of responsibility in food development and consumption.

• Introduction: Power of Sustainability and Promises of the Culture of Responsibility; Martina Topić-Rutherford and Marija Geiger ZemanCommunicating Food MattersChapter 1. Purity and Danger/Male and Female/Economy and Environment: Communication of Binaries Related to Food and Gender; Mirela HolyChapter 2. Creativity and Gender in the Cooking World: A Sociological Overview of (Un)creative Media Representation of Professional Chefs; Marija Geiger Zeman, Zdenko Zeman, and Geran-Marko MiletićChapter 3. ‘It Bugs Me’: Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern; Melissa BeattieChapter 4. Food as a Visual Practice: Fashion Design and Communication in Vegan Food Trends; Petra KrpanPromoting Culture of Responsibility: Food and Public RelationsChapter 5. ‘Go Easy with Bread, Eat Potatoes Instead’ – Food Rationing Behavioural Change Campaign of the UK Government (1940-1954); Martina Topić-RutherfordChapter 6. Savouring Truth: Exposing Disinformation in the World of Alternative Meats; Courtney D. Boman and Erika J. SchneiderChapter 7. How Public Relations Can Provide a Socially Responsible Lens for Collective Management of Water Risks; Matthew S. VanDykeChapter 8. What’s the ‘Right’ Thing to do? How Ethical Expectations for CSR Influence Company Support; Lucinda Austin, Barbara Miller Gaither, and Seoyeon KimChapter 9. Gen Z Insights on Food Waste Reduction, Yellow Sticker Shopping, and Sustainability Communication; Anca AntonSustainability in the Age of Climate ChangeChapter 10. Building Sustainable Futures: Food (In)Security and Sustainability as Flourishing in Higher Education; Megan K. SchraedleyChapter 11. Fibs, Fiction, and Facts: The Visual Construction of Ocean Sustainability within the Context of the Climate Crisis; Grace Omondi and Anders NilsenChapter 12. Developing a Public Relations Element in Climate Change University Curricula: Challenges for Higher Education; Michal Chmieł