University of California Press
Ways of Eating: Exploring Food Through History and Culture Volume 81
Key Metrics
- Benjamin Aldes Wurgaft
- University of California Press
- Hardcover
- 9780520392984
- -
- -
- Social Science > Customs & Traditions
- English
Secure TransactionBook Description
From the origins of agriculture to contemporary debates over culinary authenticity, Ways of Eating introduces readers to world food history and food anthropology. Through engaging stories and historical deep dives, Benjamin A. Wurgaft and Merry I. White offer new ways to understand food in relation to its natural and cultural histories, and to the social rules that shape our meals.
Wurgaft and White use vivid storytelling to bring food practices to life, weaving stories of Panamanian coffee-growers, medieval women beer-makers, and Japanese knife-forgers. From Venetian spice traders to the Columbian Exchange, from Roman garum to Vietnamese Nước chấm, Ways of Eating provides an absorbing account of world food history and anthropology. Migration, politics, and the dynamics of group identity all shape what we eat, and we can learn to trace these social forces from the plate to the kitchen, the factory, and the field.
Author Bio
I’m a writer and historian. The topics of my books, essays, and criticism range from the history of philosophy to contemporary food culture, with stops along the way for coffee and the history of the cafe, the history of colleges and universities, and laboratory-grown meat and the future of food. I received my B.A. from Swarthmore College, and my M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. I’ve been a Mellon postdoctoral fellow at the New School for Social Research, a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow at MIT, and a Visiting Assistant Professor at Wesleyan University. I believe in public scholarship (carefully researched work accessible to the general reader) and I place my trust in the essay form.
I write and edit freelance, and sometimes consult for individuals and organizations that need to think critically about the past (i.e., institutional history) or the future (i.e., emerging food technologies).
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