The Taste for Civilization: Food, Politics, and Civil Society
This book explores the idea that table activities—the mealtime rituals of food preparation, serving, and dining—lay the foundation for a proper education on the value of civility, the importance of the common good, and what it means to be a good citizen. The arts of conversation and diplomatic speech are learned and practiced at tables, and a political history of food practices recasts thoughtfulness and generosity as virtues that enhance civil society and democracy. In our industrialized and...
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From table talk to farmers' markets, analyzing the cultural politics of what and how we eat.
List of Illustrations ixAcknowledgments xiIntroduction 1Part 1 Household FoodworkChapter 1 The Time Crunch 25Chapter 2 Domesticity: Meals, Obligation, and Gratitude 40Chapter 3 American Food 57Part 2 Table ConversationChapter 4 Conversation and Manners 79Chapter 5 Table Rituals 100Chapter 6 Generations at the Table 116Part 3 Food for ThoughtChapter 7 The Human Psyche and Mind-Body Dualism 133Chapter 8 Appetite and Taste 155Part 4 One Woman's RevolutionChapter 9 Alice Water's Delicious Revolution 173Chapter 10 Putting the Delicious Revolution into Practice 191Part 5 Community FoodChapter 11 Community Food and Belonging in America 213Chapter 12 Gardens and Community 228Chapter 13 Farmers' Markets 255Conclusion 267Notes 277Bibliography 295Index 313
