Literature and Food Studies [Hardcover]

Literature and Food Studiesintroduces readers to a growing interdisciplinary field by examining literary genres and cultural movements as they engage with the edible world and, in turn, illuminate transnational histories of empire, domesticity, scientific innovation, and environmental transformation and degradation. With a focus on the Americas and Europe, Literature and Food Studiescompares works of imaginative literature, from Ovids Metamorphosesand Shakespeares The Winters Taleto James Joyces Ulysses and Toni Morrisons Tar Baby, with what the authors define as vernacular literary practiceswhich take written form as horticultural manuals, recipes, cookbooks, restaurant reviews, agricultural manifestos, dietary treatises, and culinary guides. For those new to its principal subject, Literature and Food Studiesintroduces core concepts in food studies that span anthropology, geography, history, literature, and other fields; it compares canonical literary texts with popular forms of print culture; and it aims to inspire future research and teaching.

Combining a cultural studies approach to foodways and food systems with textual analysis and archival research, the book offers an engaging and lucid introduction for humanities scholars and students to the rapidly expanding field of food studies.

List of Figures

Series Editor Preface

Acknowledgments

1. Introduction: Genealogies and genres of food studies

2. Food routes: Seasonality, abundance, and the mythic garden

3. Virtuous eating: Utopian farms and dietary treatises

4. Recipes as vernacular literature: A case study in chocolate

5. Gustatory narrative: Meals, memory, and modernist fiction

6. Authl³‡