Foodies

by Josée Johnston

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.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction, Sociology

280 pages, Paperback

First published December 8, 2009

Reviews

[Bruno Najjar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Achei prolixo demais, mas as análises que os autores fazem são bem interessantes. Tô com a sensação que vou gostar menos desse livro com o tempo, mas vai que isso não acontece.

[Dillon Peck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thorough and careful examination of the "Foodie" identity: what foodies claim to be, what they claim not to be, and the actual space they occupy in our culture based on the authors' research. Their conclusions are insightful and illuminating, and they do a great job of acknowledging the limits of their study. I learned quite a lot from this book and I found that their concepts and framework were useful for understanding other dominant "sub-culture" identities.

Now that we have that out of the way, I have to say that stylistically this book has a stick waaaaaaaay up its ass. The entire book reads like a scientific journal. I don't know if the authors were worried about being taken seriously or what, but they could have made the same points at the same level of credibility without being so damn stiff. Definitely would have been five stars if it'd been more readable.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was more excited by the introduction to this work than by reading the entire book. It isn't all that novel to reveal that in being a "foodie," the concept exists with understandable tension between democracy (all foods are worthy and all people should eat them) and distinction (only certain foods are worthy and by eating them one expresses/achieves social status/distinction.) Perhaps most shocking was the chapter on class and inequality, showing that foodies typically don't acknowledge these social issues, even normalizing them.

Reading Foodies made me realize how changed I am since getting my MPH. My perspective is forever altered -- and that's a good thing.

[Allison · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like this book at all. I read it for a class in grad school, and though it inspired great debate, I'm not sure it was really worth reading since it was so… lacking. The authors' definitions of "foodie" had already become somewhat outdated, and their survey of food enthusiasts was far too narrow. Could have been great, but it wasn't.