Foodies: Democracy and Distinction in the Gourmet Foodscape
This important new cultural analysis tells two stories about food. The first depicts good food as democratic. Foodies frequent ‘hole in the wall’ ethnic eateries, appreciate the pie found in working-class truck stops, and reject the snobbery of fancy French restaurants with formal table service....
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This important new cultural analysis tells two stories about food. The first depicts good food as democratic. Foodies frequent ‘hole in the wall’ ethnic eateries, appreciate the pie found in working-class truck stops, and reject the snobbery of fancy French restaurants with formal table service. The second story describes how food operates as a source of status and distinction for economic and cultural elites, indirectly maintaining and reproducing social inequality. While the first storyline insists that anybody can be a foodie, the second asks foodies to look in the mirror and think about their relative social and economic privilege. By simultaneously considering both of these stories, and studying how they operate in tension, a delicious sociology of food becomes available, perfect for teaching a broad range of cultural sociology courses.
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Format: Textbook
ISBN:
9780415965378 (0415965373)
ASIN: 9780415965378
Publish date: 14-12-2009
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Edition language: English
"I would certainly recommend Foodies: it is definitely an academic book and a work of sociology, not necessarily a casual read, but I found their argument accessible and readable as well as compelling." More here: http://scenesofeating.com/2013/01/25/one-way-of-looking-at-foodies/