Overview

""What's for dinner?"" has always been a complicated question. The locavore movement has politicized food and challenged us to rethink the answer in new and radical ways. These days, questions about where our food comes from have moved beyond 100-mile-dieters into the mainstream. Celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Alice Waters, alternative food gurus such as Michael Pollan, and numerous other popular and academic commentators have all talked about the importance of understanding the sources and transformation of food on a human scale. In The Politics of the Pantry, Michael Mikulak interrogates these narratives - what he calls ""storied food"" - in food culture. As with any story, however, it is important to ask: who is telling it? Who is the audience? What assumptions are being made? Mikulak examines competing narratives of food, pleasure, sustainability, and value that have emerged from the growing sustainable food movement as well as food's past and present relationship to environmentalism in order to understand the potential and the limits of food politics. He also considers whether or not sustainable food practices can address questions about health, environmental sustainability, and local economic development, while at the same time articulating an ethical globalization. An innovative blend of academic analysis, poetic celebration, and autobiography, The Politics of the Pantry provides anyone interested in the future of food and the emergence of a green economy with a better understanding of how what we eat is transforming the world.

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9780773542761

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Reviews

The Politics of the Pantry is beautifully written, engaging, and full of interesting and insightful twists and turns. I'd happily recommend this book to anyone grappling with the complicated questions of sustainability as it applies to food, agriculture, and knowledge. Michael Carolan, Department of Sociology, Colorado State University

The Great Lakes are one of the ecological marvels of the planet, the repository of the terrestrial circulatory system of North America, and a vital contributor to weather and climate. Too often we forget how utterly dependent we remain on air, water, soil, sunlight and biodiversity for our wellbeing and health. John Riley's magnificent book eloquently demonstrates why we must stop viewing the Great Lakes in terms of resources or economic opportunities but instead as a sacred gift that is part of the great hydrologic cycle that makes life possible on this part of the planet. David Suzuki, author, The Sacred Balance: Rediscovering our Place in Nature

The Politics of the Pantry is beautifully written, engaging, and full of interesting and insightful twists and turns. I'd happily recommend this book to anyone grappling with the complicated questions of sustainability as it applies to food, agriculture, and knowledge. Michael Carolan, Department of Sociology, Colorado State University Mikulak's multifaceted theoretical approach eschews the either/or in favour of the both, giving us a richer understanding of the environment and its relationship to food. This is a deeply intelligent, wonderfully written book. Jo Littler, Centre for Cultural Policy & Management, City University London and author of Radical Consumption Providing a useful synthesis of environmental and food studies readings, an engaging personal element through his own foodshed memoir, and a rich bibliography, The Politics of the Pantry will engage social and cultural theorists, food studies scholars, and environmental activists alike. It will make a valuable addition to any food studies library. Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment Mikulak undertakes a very difficult and tenuous task by trying to bridge elements of the popular imaginary on food and academic analysis, by showing how the two combine to contribute to a more robust, hopeful and sustainable future. (...) His writing has an almost enchanting quality to it; everything is written with an expressive and inspiring flare, lined with rich descriptions and articulate observations. Jennifer Braun, Canadian Food Studies

Author Information

Michael Mikulak is a postdoctoral fellow at Virginia Tech, adjunct faculty at McMaster and Wilfrid Laurier universities, and an aspiring small-scale farmer and food activist in Hamilton, Ontario.

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