Food fights: how history matters to contemporary food debates

"What we eat, where it is from, and how it is produced are vital questions in today's America. We think seriously about food because it is freighted with the hopes, fears, and anxieties of modern life. Yet critiques of food and food systems all too often sprawl into jeremiads against modernity itself, while supporters of the status quo refuse to acknowledge the problems with today's methods of food production and distribution. Food Fights sheds new light on these crucial debates, using a historical lens. Its essays take strong positions, even arguing with one another, as they explore the many themes and tensions that define how we understand our food--from the promises and failures of agricultural technology to the politics of taste"--

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- Introduction -- SECTION I: Producing Food -- 1: Savior or Monster? The Truth about Genetically Engineered Agriculture -- 2: Born in the U.S.A.: The Americanness of Industrial Agriculture -- 3: Food Activism: A Critical History -- SECTION II: Choosing Food -- 4: Can "Taste" Be Separated from Social Class? -- 5: The Standard of Taste Debate: How Do We Decide What Tastes Best? -- 6: What Does It Mean to Eat Right? Nutrition, Science, and Society -- SECTION III: Regulating Food -- 7: Who Should Be Responsible for Food Safety? Oysters as a Case Study -- 8: U.S. Farm and Food Subsidies: A Short History of a Long Controversy -- SECTION IV: Gendering Food -- 9: What Should Babies Eat and Whose Business Is It? -- 10: Home, Cooking: Why Gender Matters to Food Politics -- SECTION V: Cooking and Eating Food -- 11: Is Thinking Critically about Food Essential to a Good Life? -- 12: A Plea for Culinary Luddism -- 13: A Plea for Culinary Modernism: Why We Should Love Fast, Modern, Processed Food (With a New Postscript) -- Contributors -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W.

Introduction / Charles C. Ludington and Matthew Morse Booker -- Producing food. Savior or monster? The truth about genetically engineered agriculture / Margaret Mellon -- Born in the U.S.A.: the Americanness of industrial agriculture / Peter A. Coclanis -- Food activism: a critical history / Steve Striffler -- Choosing food. Can 'taste' be separated from social class? / S. Margot Finn -- The standard of taste debate: how do we decide what tastes best? / Charles C. Ludington -- What does it mean to eat right? Nutrition, science, and society / Charlotte Biltekoff -- Regulating food. Who should be responsible for food safety? Oysters as a case study / Matthew Morse Booker -- U.S. farm and food subsidies: a short history of a long controversy / Sarah Ludington -- Gendering food. what should babies eat and whose business is it? / Amy Bentley -- Home, cooking: why gender matters to food politics / Tracey Deutsch -- Cooking and eating food. Is thinking critically about food essential to a good life? / Robert T. Valgenti -- A plea for culinary luddism / Ken Albala -- A plea for culinary modernism: why we should love fast, modern, processed food (with a new postscript) / Rachel Laudan.