Food and Literature

The first collection of essays charting the origins, developments, and applications of literary food studies, by leading scholars who have shaped the field.

With essays that range in interest from food and race, to the foodscapes of US literature, to food comics, this volume will appeal to generalists and specialists with an interest in the burgeoning field of food and literature. Readers who peruse the New York Times and National Public Radio (NPR) sections on food, as well as scholars in food studies, will find work of interest in this collection.This volume examines food as subject, form, landscape, polemic, and aesthetic statement in literature. With essays analyzing food and race, queer food, intoxicated poets, avant-garde food writing, vegetarianism, the recipe, the supermarket, food comics, and vampiric eating, this collection brings together fascinating work from leading scholars in the field. It is the first volume to offer an overview of literary food studies and reflect on its origins, developments, and applications. Taking up maxims such as 'we are what we eat', it traces the origins of literary food studies and examines key questions in cultural texts from different global literary traditions. It charts the trajectories of the field in relation to work in critical race studies, postcolonial studies, and children's literature, positing an omnivorous method for the field at large.