This volume explores our cultural celebration of food, blending lobster festivals, politicians’ roadside eats, reality show chef showdowns, and gravity-defying cakes into a deeper exploration of why people find so much joy in eating.
In 1961, Julia Child introduced the American public to an entirely new, joy-infused approach to cooking and eating food. In doing so, she set in motion a food renaissance that is still in full bloom today. Over the last six decades, food has become an increasingly more diverse, prominent, and joyful point of cultural interest.
The Joy of Eating discusses in detail the current golden age of food in contemporary American popular culture. Entries explore the proliferation of food-themed television shows, documentaries, and networks; the booming popularity of celebrity chefs; unusual, exotic, decadent, creative, and even mundane food trends; and cultural celebrations of food, such as in festivals and music.
The volume provides depth and academic gravity by tying each entry into broader themes and larger contexts (in relation to a food-themed reality show, for example, discussing the show’s popularity in direct relation to a significant economic event), providing a brief history behind popular foods and types of cuisines and tracing the evolution of our understanding of diet and nutrition, among other explications.
Provides rare, in-depth coverage of a relatively modern pop culture trend
Gives academic gravity to seemingly superficial topics, tying elements of popular culture into deeper anthropological and sociological explorations of humans’ relationship with and artistic depictions of food
Synthesizes a wide range of topics, which run the gamut from grilled cheese festivals to the international diplomacy of filming a fishing lesson in the Congo
Offers considerate, comprehensive coverage of influential individuals, movements, and trends in an often overlooked field
Presents academic, reference-style information engagingly and sometimes humorously
