Food studies is the critical examination of food
and its contexts within science, art, history, society, and other
fields. It is distinctive from other food-related areas of study such as
nutrition, agriculture, gastronomy, and culinary arts
in that it tends to look beyond the mere consumption, production, and
aesthetic appreciation of food and tries to illuminate food as it
relates to a vast number of academic fields. It is thus a field that
involves and attracts philosophers, historians, scientists, literary scholars, sociologists, art historians, anthropologists, and others.
State of the field
This
is an interdisciplinary and emerging field, and as such there is a
substantial crossover between academic and popular work. Practitioners
reference best-selling authors, such as the journalist Michael Pollan, as well as scholars, such as the historian Warren Belasco and the anthropologist Sidney Mintz.
While this makes the discipline somewhat volatile, it also makes it
interesting and engaging. The journalist Paul Levy has noted, for
example, that "Food studies is a subject so much in its infancy that it
would be foolish to try to define it or in any way circumscribe it,
because the topic, discipline or method you rule out today might be
tomorrow’s big thing."
Research questions
Qualitative questions that are wrestled with include: What impact does food have on the environment? What are the ethics of eating? How does food contribute to systems of oppression? How are foods symbolic markers of identity?
At the same time practitioners may ask seemingly basic questions that
are nonetheless fundamental to human existence. Who chooses what we eat
and why? How are foods traditionally prepared—and where is the boundary between authentic culinary heritage and invented traditions? How is food integrated into classrooms?
There are also questions of the spatialization of foodways and the
relationship to place. This has led to the development of the concept of
"foodscape" - introduced in the early 1990s - and the related practice of foodscape mapping.
Discussion of these questions has increased as a result of public
concern about issues which have arisen as a result of the emergence of a
vast array of novel food technologies throughout the last century,
ranging from chemical fertilizers to GMOs.
Pursuers of food studies approach these questions by first
understanding the scientific, economic, and philosophical issues
surrounding them.
Institutions
One
branch of this community has organized itself as The Association for
the Study of Food and Society. This group hosts an annual conference
(along with the Agriculture, Food, and Human Values Society); it
publishes an interdisciplinary journal, Food, Culture, and Society;
and it maintains an email listserv with over a thousand members for
discussion of food-related topics. ASFS maintains a list of institutions
granting food studies related degrees.
A few schools have programs in the field, including Julia Child and Jacques Pepin founded Boston University's Gastronomy Masters program and New York University's program in Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health. The Department of Anthropology at Indiana University has recently started a food studies concentration within their program, leading to a PhD in Anthropology, while The New School
is developing an undergraduate program in Food Studies. Prof. Fabio
Parasecoli is the Coordinator of Food Studies at the New School in New
York City.
Indiana University began offering a PhD track in Food
Anthropology in 2005, and an undergraduate minor in the anthropology of
food in 2007, followed quickly by the IU Geography Department, which now
also offers an MA and PhD in Food Systems. In 2016 the Collins
Living-Learning center at IU started offering an undergraduate
certificate in Food and Sustainability. At the same time the University
has established the IU Food Institute, to house a growing
interdisciplinary Food Studies research group, chaired by Profs. Peter
Todd and Richard Wilk.
Syracuse University
offers a Bachelor of Science or minor in food studies at the
undergraduate level and a Masters of Science or Certificate of Advance
Study (CAS) at the graduate level. With a systems perspective grounded
in political economy, food studies at Syracuse University is a full
stand-alone program with dedicated faculty, a dynamic and devoted group
of students, a physical home - including extensive teaching kitchens,
community partners including farms, food businesses, government
agencies, and not-for-profit organizations, complementary programs on
campus, and a growing list of professional contacts nationwide.
Chatham University Master of Arts in Food Studies.
The Masters of Arts in Food Studies emphasizes a holistic approach to
food systems, from agriculture and food production to cuisines and
consumption, providing intellectual and practical experience from field
to table. Prof. Alice Julier is the Coordinator of Food Studies at
Chatham University. The University of Oregon
in Eugene, USA, has recently launched a graduate specialization in food
studies, and is aiming for a 2014 launch of an undergraduate degree.
University of the Pacific,
San Francisco has the only Master of Arts in Food Studies program on
the West Coast. It is multidisciplinary and the curriculum encompasses
food history, food writing, food production, food scarcity and justice,
and food industry management and business. In addition to graduate
seminars, faculty leads field visits to area restaurants, farms and food
processing facilities. Ken Albala, a food historian and director of
program is the author or editor of 23 scholarly and popular books on
food. He writes, “Our goal is to engage students in the dynamism that
is the Bay Area food and farming scene, while making connections with
leaders throughout the food system. This is a great opportunity for
people with an interest in food and food-related issues to earn a
master’s degree in something they feel passionate about."
In Italy, the American University of Rome
offers a US-accredited 15-month Master in Food Studies with a strong
international dimension focused on the linkages between food and the
environment and policies for sustainable production, consumption and
diets.
The Technological University Dublin, Ireland (previously Dublin Institute of Technology),
offers a Master of Arts in Gastronomy and Food Studies that focuses on
three pillars: History, Society and Practice. The two-year part-time
programme - first of its kind in Ireland - features masterclasses,
workshops, guest speakers, field trips and meal experiences and includes
such courses as Global Cultural History of Food, Politics of the Global
Food System, Food Writing and Media, History of Irish Food, Reading Historic Cookbooks, Social Approaches to Wine and Beverage Culture, Food Tourism, and Consumer Culture and Branding.
In the United Kingdom, SOAS, University of London
has offered a master’s programme in the Anthropology of Food since
2007. The course offers students the opportunity to study food on a
variety of levels, ranging from the domestic to the international. The
institution is also home to the SOAS Food Studies Centre, an
interdisciplinary research centre focused on furthering the academic
study of food.
Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, Scotland has launched a new master's degree in Gastronomy.
This is a unique qualification and the first of its kind in Scotland,
which allows students to engage with the broad range of issues connected
with food, provenance, diet, health, and nutrition. The degree is not
just about food, but also delves deeper to consider food culture within
the contexts of anthropology, environment, sustainability, politics and
communications.
Food & History
is a multilingual (French, English, German, Italian and Spanish)
scientific journal that has been published since 2003 as the biannual
scientific review of the European Institute for the History and Cultures of Food (IEHCA) based in Tours (linked to the Université François Rabelais).
Even study abroad programs have created new, interdisciplinary
food studies programs, among them Palazzo Rucellai in Florence and The
Umbra Institute in Perugia. Gustolab International is another
institution which offers research internships and courses in sustainable
production and consumption, food and media, food waste, advertising,
science and nutrition, new technologies, and the history of food in
Italy, Japan and Vietnam. To be mentioned also is the Pollenzo-based
(near Bra, Cuneo, Italy) University of Gastronomic Sciences,
the Institut Européen d'Histoire et des Cultures de l'Alimentation (of
Tours, France, mentioned above) and FOST: Social and Cultural Food
Studies of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (Belgium), providing education in bachelor, master or postgraduate studies.
Numerous presses publish academic and popular books about the cultural significance of food, some of which are Columbia University Press, University Press of Mississippi, the University of Nebraska Press, University of California Press, the University of Illinois Press, the MIT Press, Bloomsbury Academic, Rowman & Littlefield, Berg, Earthscan, Routledge, Prospect, and Equinox Publishing.
Food insecurity and health outcomes
In
America, almost 50 million people are considered food insecure. This is
because they do not have the means to buy healthy food, therefore, lead
an unhealthy lifestyle. At least 1.4 times more children who are food
insecure are likely to have asthma, compared to food-secure children.
And older Americans who are food-insecure will tend to have limitations
in their daily activities. When a household is lacking the means
(money) to buy proper food, their health ultimately suffers.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the
Food Stamp Program) is put in place to help families in need to get the
proper nutrition they need in order to live a healthy lifestyle. There
are 3 points that make a household eligible for SNAP.
One, is their gross monthly income must be 130% of the federal poverty
level. The second point they have to meet is being below poverty. And
the last thing is they have to have assets of less than $2,000 except
that households with at least one senior and households that include at
least one person with a disability can have more assets. Multiple
studies have shown SNAP as being successful in reducing poverty.
The major part of this research was examining children’s food
insecurity, the effect of this have greatly affected a child’s
performance. Due to food insecurity also runs the risk of possibly birth
defects “5 anemia, 6,7 lower nutrient intakes, 8 cognitive problems, 9
and aggression and anxiety.”
As opposed to children in food-secure households, “children in
food-insecure households had 2.0-3.0 times higher odds of having anemia,
6, 7 2.0 times higher odds of being in fair or poor health, 8 and
1.4-2.6 times higher odds of having asthma, depending on the age of the
child.”
Non senior adult had less research done on them in regards with
the impacts of food insecurity “however, some of the studies in this
limited set have shown that food insecurity is associated with decreased
nutrient intakes; 20-25 increased rates of mental health problems and
depression,10,26-30 diabetes, 31, 32 hypertension, 33 and
hyperlipidemia; 32 worse outcomes on health exams; 33 being in poor or
fair health; 23 , 34 and poor sleep outcomes 35.” Mothers who are food insecurity tend to be twice as likely to report mental health issues as well as oral health problems.
Food and education
Food
and school are two interconnected topics. Children spend a large part
of their day in school, so the food that is served in and around school
greatly influences eating habits. Fast food in particular has proven to
affect school children's health. Fast food marketing targets children.
In the United States, more than 13 million children and adolescents are
obese. Obesity prevalence was 13.9% among 2- to 5-year-olds, 18.4%
among 6- to 11-year-olds, and 20.6% among 12- to 19-year-olds. The close proximity of fast food restaurants to schools has been speculated be one of the reasons for such high childhood obesity.
in California, students with fast food restaurants within a half mile
from their schools are more likely to be overweight, and are less likely
to eat healthier foods.
Fast food restaurants are also concentrated around schools in Chicago,
increasing the risk of poor food choices for school children there. Research has shown that at least 80% of schools in Chicago have at least one fast food restaurant 10 minutes away.
The close proximity of fast food restaurants to schools exposes US
children to unhealthy, cheap meals that they can easily get to and from
school, increasing the chances of childhood obesity.
The influence of food on school children can also be a positive
thing. Schools are being used to advocate for obesity prevention, since
nutrition has been proven to be linked to academic performance.
The overweight students do not perform as well academically, and also
deal with health related issues that take away from school time
To combat this, schools are working to help their students. 83% of
public and private schools provide breakfast and lunch programs that
serve nutritious food up to federal standards, and these programs are
proven to be beneficial for students' nutrition.
The prevalence of competitive foods in schools are still
providing students with unhealthy foods. Competitive foods are the foods
that are for sale to students besides the federal meals.
Usually these foods are high in fat and sugar, and access to vending
machines allows for students to have sugary drinks as well. A 2003
California High School Fast Food Survey found that about one-fourth of
173 districts served brand name fast food from Subway, Domino's, Pizza
Hut, and Taco Bell. These foods are reached for more than the healthier options.
Parents and the public have raised concerns about the health
impacts of the competitive food in schools. Healthier food costs schools
more to buy, so the concern of losing revenue influences the purchase
of cheaper, less healthy options. Even so, schools in Maine, California,
Minnesota, and Pennsylvania were able to replace sugary drinks with
healthier options without losing revenue.
School nutrition programs have also helped fight poor eating
habits of students with the support of parents and school
administrators. Making it Happen! School Nutrition Success Stories is a
program that provides healthier alternative foods to schools. Schools
have been doing their part by changing food contracts, promoting better
eating, and fundraising for better student health.
Food industry and economy
The
food industry has a rapid rate of increasing sectors such as
restaurants and fast food places that impact the economy in the long and
short run. There are many people involved behind a successful business.
In the food industry, the workers that are involved include servers,
waiters, chefs, farmworkers and all restaurant workers. The issue is
that some of these workers are paid minimum wage for all the effort they
put in. The work individuals do involves picking fruits and vegetables
that are served in the meal, they make the food, serve it to the
consumers and wash dishes. These workers deal with working conditions,
aspirations and labor practices.
But these workers specifically have to deal with poor working
conditions such as unsanitary kitchens which affect the food that is
served to the consumers and can negatively impact their health.
This allows the society to see from the perspective of how the
workers and their relationship to the food can be demonstrated as
multiple meanings for them because they live off of it. These people
include immigrant restaurant owners and mobile food vendors. Ellen Kossek
and Lisa Burke did a research on “Developing Occupational and Family
Resilience in US Migrant Farm Workers” which explained how the migrant
workers in the agriculture industry face tough circumstances in their
work and home environment.
The other conditions besides low work wages include difficult working
conditions, health problems, not well suited housing, family issues and
children's lives impacted negatively. These conditions are categorized
as 'acculturative stress' but the goal is to maintain a healthy and
better life which does not have a negative impact on family relations
and job performance. One of the findings from the research was that the
farm work mothers who had an infant in the Migrant Head Start Program, those ladies performed better in their household and at work.
There can be programs developed as a solution to the problem
with the goal of improving social networks for the migrant farmworkers
and better education systems for the children. The benefits of creating
these programs will help in improving work, childcare and housing
conditions for farmworkers and their families. The issue is that they
have to move constantly based on the season because there are limited
opportunities. Another study was done by Saru Jayaraman and Sean
Basinski who focused on this issue. In "Feeding America: Immigrants in
the Restaurant Industry and Throughout the Food System Take Action for
Change," they provide data which looks at the working conditions and
poverty rates that affect the workers. There were efforts made by
Restaurant Opportunities Centers United to better wages, benefits and
opportunities to advance.
These studies allow us to see the workers experiences and the
conditions they deal with. Our goal should be to get involved and make a
healthy and sustainable industry.
