ABSTRACT

This volume brings together contributions that provide a snapshot of current food research. What is Food? acknowledges the many dimensions of food, including its social, cultural, symbolic and sensual qualities, while also being material in that it is fundamental to our survival.

The collection addresses contemporary challenges and reflects the concerns of funders and researchers working in the broad field of the sociology of food: dietary health, sustainability, food safety and food poverty. Reflecting broader academic trends, the chapters are moreover concerned with interdisciplinarity, the analysis of change, data reuse and the use of social media as data. The book includes empirical evidence from around the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Taiwan and addresses food both as a lens through which to examine these wider social relationships, processes and social change and as a primary subject.

The contributions will be of interest to a wide range of students and researchers looking for a cutting-edge insight into how to frame and study food in areas related to the sociology of food, health, risk, poverty, sustainability and research methods.

part I|79 pages

Studying food

chapter Chapter 1|21 pages

Revisiting ‘Eating Out’

Understanding 20 years of change in the practice in three English cities

chapter Chapter 2|19 pages

Food poverty in context

Parental sacrifice and children’s experiences in low-income families in the UK

chapter Chapter 3|21 pages

From practices to volumes, from meaning to nutrients

An interdisciplinary approach to healthy and sustainable food consumption

chapter Chapter 4|16 pages

Traditional or cultural relativist school meals?

The construction of religiously sanctioned school meals on social media

part II|97 pages

Changes and challenges

chapter Chapter 5|17 pages

‘I wouldn’t delve into it too much’

Public concerns (or not) about the contemporary UK food supply system

chapter Chapter 6|19 pages

Eating less meat ‘to save the planet’

Studying the development of sustainable healthy eating advice in the UK and Denmark

chapter Chapter 7|21 pages

Healthy eating, social class and ethnicity

Exploring the food practices of South Asian mothers

chapter Chapter 8|17 pages

The original taste of real food

The discursive formation of Taiwan’s food education

chapter Chapter 9|21 pages

‘We need to survive’

Integrating social enterprises within community food initiatives