Foodies (Cultural Spaces)

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.

Josée Johnston is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Toronto. Her major area of research is the sociology of food.  Her work ties together several research threads including globalization, political-ecology, culture and consumerism.

Shyon Baumann is associate professor of sociology at the University of Toronto. He studies the sociology of culture, the arts, and the media. He is the author of Hollywood Highbrow: From Entertainment to Art, and is currently studying the production and content of television advertising.