John Coveney – författare

In Food, John Coveney examines ‘food as … ’ identity, politics, industry, regulation, the environment, justice and gastronomy. He explores how food helps us understand what it means to be human.

The centrality of food in life, and the importance of food as life, is undeniable. As a source of biological substrates, personal pleasure and political power, food is and has been an enduring requirement of human biological, social and cultural existence. In recent years, interest in food has increased across the academic, public and popular spheres, fuelled by popular media’s constant play on the role of food and body size, and food and cooking, as a mass spectacle for TV audiences. Through food, we construct our social identities, our families and communities. However, Coveney also highlights the tensions between the industrialisation of food, the environment, and the iniquitous distribution of food. He also considers how the food industries, on which most of us must rely, have also had direct effects on our bodies through diet, and the development of illness and diseases.

This accessible primer is for students and general readers alike, indeed, for anyone with an interest in food. It questions the idea that food is merely something inert on the plate. Instead, it shows how influential, symbolic, powerful and transformative food has come to be.

In Food, John Coveney examines ‘food as … ’ identity, politics, industry, regulation, the environment, justice and gastronomy. He explores how food helps us understand what it means to be human.

The centrality of food in life, and the importance of food as life, is undeniable. As a source of biological substrates, personal pleasure and political power, food is and has been an enduring requirement of human biological, social and cultural existence. In recent years, interest in food has increased across the academic, public and popular spheres, fuelled by popular media’s constant play on the role of food and body size, and food and cooking, as a mass spectacle for TV audiences. Through food, we construct our social identities, our families and communities. However, Coveney also highlights the tensions between the industrialisation of food, the environment, and the iniquitous distribution of food. He also considers how the food industries, on which most of us must rely, have also had direct effects on our bodies through diet, and the development of illness and diseases.

This accessible primer is for students and general readers alike, indeed, for anyone with an interest in food. It questions the idea that food is merely something inert on the plate. Instead, it shows how influential, symbolic, powerful and transformative food has come to be.

Following on from the success of the first edition, John Coveney traces our complex relationship with food and eating and our preoccupation with diet, self-discipline and food guilt. Using our current fascination with health and nutrition, he explores why our appetite for food pleasures makes us feel anxious. This up-to-date edition includes an examination of how our current obsession with body size, especially fatness, drives a national and international panic about the obesity ‘epidemic’.

Focusing on how our food anxieties have stemmed from social, political and religious problems in Western history, Food, Morals and Meaning looks at:

Based on the work of Michel Foucault, this fresh and updated edition explains how a rationalization food choice – so apparent in current programmes on nutrition and health – can be traced through a genealogy of historical social imperatives and moral panics. Food, Morals and Meaning is essential reading for those studying nutrition, public health, sociology of health and illness and sociology of the body.

Following on from the success of the first edition, John Coveney traces our complex relationship with food and eating and our preoccupation with diet, self-discipline and food guilt. Using our current fascination with health and nutrition, he explores why our appetite for food pleasures makes us feel anxious. This up-to-date edition includes an examination of how our current obsession with body size, especially fatness, drives a national and international panic about the obesity ‘epidemic’.

Focusing on how our food anxieties have stemmed from social, political and religious problems in Western history, Food, Morals and Meaning looks at:

Based on the work of Michel Foucault, this fresh and updated edition explains how a rationalization food choice – so apparent in current programmes on nutrition and health – can be traced through a genealogy of historical social imperatives and moral panics. Food, Morals and Meaning is essential reading for those studying nutrition, public health, sociology of health and illness and sociology of the body.

Exploring an international range of perspectives surrounding food security, the Handbook of Food Security and Society illustrates clear links between food and broader social welfare policy and economic determinants. Chapters describe histories of food security, its measurement and question the role of movements, such as charitable organisations, that have been involved in the food security debate. They resolutely locate food welfare as a fundamental human right.

This comprehensive Handbook will be essential for politics, economics and social policy academics and researchers seeking to gain a clearer understanding of food security history and policy. It will additionally be beneficial to specific practitioners, such as nutritionists and policy makers, working to understand key connections between welfare strategies, wellbeing and food security.

This second volume in the Food Policy series focuses on critical nutrition and dietetics studies, offering an innovative and interdisciplinary exploration of the complexities of the food supply and the actors in it through a new critical lens.  

The volume provides an overview of the growth of critical nutrition and dietetics since its inception in 2009, as well as commentary on its continuing relevance and its applicability in the fields of dietetic education, research, and practice. Chapters address key topics such as how to bring critical dietetics into conventional practice, applying critical diets in clinical practice, policy applications, and new perspectives on training and educating a critical nutrition and dietetic workforce. Contributing authors from around the globe also discuss the role of critical nutrition dietetics in industry, private practice, and consultancy, as well the role of critical dietetics in addressing the food, hunger, and health issues associated with the world economic crisis. 

The authors designed the volume to be a reference work for students enrolled in undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Critical Nutrition, Critical Food Studies, and Critical Dietetics. Each chapter offers concise aims and learning outcomes, as well as assignments for students and a concise chapter summary. These features enhance the value of the volume as a learning tool. 

This book explores the links between food and democracy. It addresses how democratic principles can be used to shape our food system and takes a practical ‘how-to’ approach to using democratic processes to regain control of the food we eat. It also highlights what food democracy looks like on the ground and how individuals, communities and societies can be empowered to access, cook and eat healthy food in ways that are sustainable.

Food democracy, as a concept, is a social movement based on the idea that people can and should be able to actively participate in shaping the food system rather than being passive spectators. The book is useful for university and advanced TAFE courses that cover topics examining food in health sciences, social sciences and other areas of study. It is also relevant to health practitioners, nutritionists, food advocates, policy makers and others with a keen interest in exploring an alternative to the industrial food system known as “Big Food.”