Critical Perspectives in Food Studies

Edited by leading scholars in the field of food studies, Critical Perspectives in Food Studies brings together original contributions by Canadian scholars who skillfully showcase the diversity and extent of the field. Balancing Canadian and international content, the contributions introduce students to the theoretical and historical foundations for understanding the ways in which Canadian and global food systems are managed. Organized around five sections, this book examines the network of social relations, processes, structures, and institutional arrangements that affect human interactions with nature and food. This ground-breaking book covers some of the most important topics in food studies that affect Canadians today. Using clear and concise language to present often complex ideas and concepts, this book is suitable for all students in higher education taking a course in food studies.

1 - What is Food Studies? Characterizing an Emerging Academic Field Through the Eyes of Canadian Scholars
2 - Changing Food Systems from Top to Bottom: Political Economy and Social Movements Perspectives
3 - Canada's Food History Through Cookbooks
4 - You are What You Eat: Enjoying (and Tranforming) Food Culture
5 - Catalyzing Creativity: Education and Art Feed the Food Justice Movement
6 - The Political Economy of the Two Greatest Food Revolutions: The Domestication of Nature and the Transgression of Nature's Limits
7 - Looking through the Political Ecological Lens: Food and the Environmental Crisis
8 - Still Hungry: A Feminist Perspective on Food, Foodwork, the Body, and Food Studies
9 - Discourses of Food and Consumption: Constructing 'Healthy Eating'/Constructing Self
10 - Roots of the Farm Crisis
11 - The Crisis in the Fishery: Canada in Global Context
12 - Spatial Colonization of Food Environments by Pseudo Food Companies: Precursors of a Health Crisis
13 - Nutrition Transition and the Public Health Crisis: Aboriginal Perspectives on Food and Eating
14 - Canada's Food Banks: The Problem with Corporate Donations
15 - Labels and Governance: Promises, Failures, and Deceptions of Food Labelling
16 - The Paradox of Governing through the Courts: The Canadian GMO Debate
17 - Who Governs Global Food Prices?
18 - Municipal Governance and Urban Food Systems
19 - Food Policy for the Twenty-First Century
20 - Conceptualizing Sustainable Food Systems
21 - Quantifying Food Systems: Assessing Sustainability in the Canadian Context
22 - Building Food Sovereignty: A Radical Framework for Alternative Food Systems

Mustafa Koç is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at Ryerson University. He was among the founders of the Centre for Studies in Food Security; the chair of Food Secure Canada from 2005-2006, and president of the Canadian Association for Food Studies from 2005-2008. Jennifer Sumner is Director of the Certificate Program in Adult Education for Sustainability in the Adult Education and Community Development Program in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. Tony Winson is a professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Guelph. He has been writing on agriculture, food, and rural development issues related to Canada and the Third World for more than twenty years.