Preface and Acknowledgments vii 1. Introduction: Food, Drink, and Modern Social Theory 1 2. The Natural and the Social: The Agricultural Revolution 21 3. Exchange: The Columbian Exchange and Mercantile Empires 40 4. Culture: Ritual, Prohibition, and Taboo 58 5. Industrialization: Technology, Rationality, and Urbanization 76 6. The Public Sphere: Eating and Drinking in Public 94 7. The Modern State: Alcohol, Alcoholism, and Biopolitics 112 8. Identity: Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Religion 130 9. Distinction: Social Diff erence, Taste, and the Civilizing Process 150 10. Political Economy: The Global Food System 169 11. The Self: Food Choices and Public Health 187 12. Consumption: Media, the Domestic Economy, and Celebrity Chefs 206 Notes 223 Select Bibliography 257 Index 265

"This intriguing collection of original essays serves as an introduction to global food history via the multidisciplinary lens of social and political theory. Few texts achieve the balance demonstrated here."—Warren J. Belasco, author of Food Chains: From Farmyard to Shopping Cart "This outstanding book meets a clear need in teaching the sociology and anthropology of food and eating—namely, elucidating how that empirical field relates to more general theoretical questions in the social sciences."—Stephen Mennell, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University College Dublin "This book covers material that is taught in any sociology of food class, in anthropology courses, and maybe even in a food history class—and it gives a broad overview of social theory and how food fits in. I’d really enjoy teaching a class using this book, now that I come to think of it!"—Ken Albala, Professor of History, University of the Pacific