An Edible History of Humanity

In 2006, author and investigative journalist Michael Pollan published The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, the first of many works by Pollan on how people think about and interact with food. In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan argues that industrialization has taken over the American diet to the detriment of health and culture. That same year, film director Richard Linklater and writer Eric Schlosser drew attention to the dangerous hold of the fast-food industry on American health in Fast Food Nation. These works and others represented growing concerns about the prevalence of processed foods in American diets and the influence of capitalism and industrialization on the types of foods appearing on plates across the globe. Although Pollan, Linklater, and Schlosser were not the first to examine the complex interactions among people, food, history, health, and economics, their work brought international attention to a growing field: food studies.

Food studies is an area of research still in its infancy that explores the history and issues of food production and consumption through multiple lenses. The field blends critical academic writing with popular works to confront questions about the ethics of food, the relationship between humans and the natural world, and the influence of wealth and politics on the human diet.