This book provides a comprehensive overview of the production and consumption of food, suitable for use in undergraduate classrooms, either at the intermediate or advanced level. It takes an intersectional approach to difference and power and approaches standard subjects in the geography of food with a fresh perspective focusing on inequality, uneven production and legacies of colonialism. The book also focuses on places and regions often overlooked in conventional narratives, such as the Americas in the domestication of plants. The topics covered in the textbook include: descriptions and analyses of food systems histories of agricultural development with a focus on the roles of different regions major commodities such as meat, grains and produce with a focus on the place of production contemporary challenges in the food system, including labor, disasters/conflict and climate change recent and emerging trends in food and agriculture such as lab-grown meat and vertical urban farms Geographies of Food and Power takes a synthetic approach by discussing food as something produced within an interconnected system, in which labor, food quality and the environment are considered together. It will be a valuable resource for students of human geography, environmental geography, economic geography, food studies and development.

What is the significance of food in our everyday lives? Food Geographies addresses this broad question by examining the social, political, and ecological connections that food weaves between people and places across the world and revealing the centrality of food in the human experience. This interdisciplinary and systemic perspective provides readers with key concepts, analytical tools, and critical skills to better understand and address the many issues facing the contemporary food system, including food insecurity, environmental degradation, climate change, labor exploitation, social inequality, power imbalance in decision making, and threats to health and well-being. It takes readers to places including modern plantations in Peru, collective farms in Tanzania, food halls in France, home kitchens in Japan, community gardens in Brazil, pubs in England, and animal feeding operations in America. By raising important questions about the current system, readers will explore ways to enact meaningful change to build better future food geographies by producing, consuming, and engaging with food differently.

Strong critical geographical perspective Coverage of key geographical concepts to frame the book contents Offers a fresh perspective focusing on inequality, uneven production and legacies of colonialism by taking an intersectional approach to difference and power The food systems lens through which to discuss issues of sustainability, food insecurity and food justice, and the histories and uneven outcomes of commodity chains The use of specific and relatable examples throughout but especially in chapter 7 through 11, these are all relevant to contemporary systems, experiences and trends in food production and consumption that my students care about and are questioning and will be working to improve/change.

While interest in the relations of power and identity in food explodes, a hesitancy remains about calling these racial. What difference does race make in the fields where food is grown, the places it is sold and the manner in which it is eaten? How do we understand farming and provisioning, tasting and picking, eating and being eaten, hunger and gardening better by paying attention to race? This collection argues there is an unacknowledged racial dimension to the production and consumption of food under globalization. Building on case studies from across the world, it advances the conceptualization of race by emphasizing embodiment, circulation and materiality, while adding to food advocacy an antiracist perspective it often lacks. Within the three socio-physical spatialities of food - fields, bodies and markets - the collection reveals how race and food are intricately linked. An international and multidisciplinary team of scholars complements each other to shed light on how human groups become entrenched in myriad hierarchies through food, at scales from the dining room and market stall to the slave trade and empire. Following foodways as they constitute racial formations in often surprising ways, the chapters achieve a novel approach to the process of race as one that cannot be reduced to biology, culture or capitalism.

What is the future of food in light of growing threats from the climate emergency and natural resource depletion, as well as economic and social inequality? This textbook engages with this question, and considers the complex relationships between food, place, and space, providing students with an introduction to the contemporary and future geographies of food and the powerful role that food plays in our everyday lives. Geographies of Food explores contemporary food issues and crises in all their dimensions, as well as the many solutions currently being proposed. Drawing on global case studies from the Majority and Minority Worlds, it analyses the complex relationships operating between people and processes at a range of geographical scales, from the shopping decisions of consumers in a British or US supermarket, to food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa, to the high-level political negotiations at the World Trade Organization and the strategies of giant American and European agri-businesses whose activities span several continents. With over 60 color images and a range of lively pedagogical features, Geographies of Food is essential reading for undergraduates studying food and geography.

This collection presents critical and action-oriented approaches to addressing food systems inequities across places, spaces, and scales. With case studies from around the globe, Radical Food Geographies explores interconnections between power structures and the social and ecological dynamics that bring food from the land and water to our plates. Through themes of scale, spatial imaginaries, and human and more-than-human relationships, the authors explore ongoing efforts to co-construct more equitable and sustainable food systems for all. Advancing a radical food geographies praxis, the book reveals multiple forms of resistance and resurgence, and offers examples of co-creating food systems transformation through scholarship, action, and geography.

Examines the efforts to reform contemporary food provision. This book addresses concepts and debates, public policy, and alternative production. It includes case studies from around the world.

Having “discovered” the flavors of barbacoa, bibimbap, bánh mi, sambusas, and pupusas, white middle-class eaters are increasingly venturing into historically segregated neighborhoods in search of “authentic” eateries run by—and for—immigrants and people of color. This interest in “ethnic” food and places, fueled by media attention and capitalized on by developers, contributes to gentrification, and the very people who produced these vibrant foodscapes are increasingly excluded from them. Drawing on extensive fieldwork, geographer Pascale Joassart-Marcelli traces the transformation of three urban San Diego neighborhoods whose foodscapes are shifting from serving the needs of longtime minoritized residents who face limited food access to pleasing the tastes of wealthier and whiter newcomers. The $16 Taco illustrates how food can both emplace and displace immigrants, shedding light on the larger process of gentrification and the emotional, cultural, economic, and physical displacement it produces. It also highlights the contested food geographies of immigrants and people of color by documenting their contributions to the cultural food economy and everyday struggles to reclaim ethnic foodscapes and lead flourishing and hunger-free lives. Joassart-Marcelli offers valuable lessons for cities where food-related development projects transform neighborhoods at the expense of the communities they claim to celebrate.

While interest in the relations of power and identity in food explodes, a hesitancy remains about calling these racial. What difference does race make in the fields where food is grown, the places it is sold and the manner in which it is eaten? How do we understand farming and provisioning, tasting and picking, eating and being eaten, hunger and gardening better by paying attention to race? This collection argues there is an unacknowledged racial dimension to the production and consumption of food under globalization. Building on case studies from across the world, it advances the conceptualization of race by emphasizing embodiment, circulation and materiality, while adding to food advocacy an antiracist perspective it often lacks. Within the three socio-physical spatialities of food - fields, bodies and markets - the collection reveals how race and food are intricately linked. An international and multidisciplinary team of scholars complements each other to shed light on how human groups become entrenched in myriad hierarchies through food, at scales from the dining room and market stall to the slave trade and empire. Following foodways as they constitute racial formations in often surprising ways, the chapters achieve a novel approach to the process of race as one that cannot be reduced to biology, culture or capitalism.

The so-called spatial turn in the social sciences means that many researchers have become much more interested in what can be called the spatialities of power, or the ways in which power as a medium for achieving goals is related to where it takes place. Most famous authors on the subject, such as Machiavelli and Hobbes, saw power as entirely equivalent to domination exercised by some over others. Though this meaning is hardly redundant, understandings of power have become more multidimensional and nuanced as a result of the spatial turn. Much recent writing in human geography, for example, has rigorously extended use of the term power beyond its typical understanding as a resource that pools up in some hands and some places to a medium of agency that has different effects depending on how it is deployed across space and how actors cooperate, or not, to give it effect. To address this objective, the book is organized thematically into four sections that cover the main areas in which much of the contemporary work on geographies of power is concentrated: bodies, economy, environment and energy, and war.