How Canadians Communicate VI Food Promotion, Consumption, and Controversy

Food nourishes the body, but our relationship with food extends far beyond our need for survival. Food choices not only express our personal tastes but also communicate a range of beliefs, values, affiliations and aspirations—sometimes to the exclusion of others. In the media sphere, the enormous amount of food-related advice provided by government agencies, advocacy groups, diet books, and so on compete with efforts on the part of the food industry to sell their product and to respond to a consumer-driven desire for convenience. As a result, the topic of food has grown fraught, engendering sometimes acrimonious debates about what we should eat, and why.

By examining topics such as the values embedded in food marketing, the locavore movement, food tourism, dinner parties, food bank donations, the moral panic surrounding obesity, food crises, and fears about food safety, the contributors to this volume paint a rich, and sometimes unsettling portrait of how food is represented, regulated, and consumed in Canada. With chapters from leading scholars such as Ken Albala, Harvey Levenstein, Stephen Kline, and Valerie Tarasuk, the volume also includes contributions from “food insiders”—bestselling cookbook author and food editor Elizabeth Baird and veteran restaurant reviewer John Gilchrist. The result is a timely and thought-provoking look at food as a system of communication through which Canadians articulate cultural identity, personal values, and social distinction.

About the Editor

Charlene Elliott is professor in the Department of Communication, Media and Film at the University of Calgary and Canada Research Chair in Food Marketing, Policy and Children’s Health.

Reviews

The wide variety of chapters adds to the zest of this collection. The book underscores the complexity of our food choices, but it also emphasizes that we can interpret the cultural shorthand that is exhibited in the patterns that emerge from our food decisions. It would be useful to graze the chapters like one would a good buffet. […] Through a mix of perspectives and levels of analysis, the book reminds us of the cultural and social aspects of what is on our plate, and the role that communication plays in our diet.

Canadian Journal of Communication

[This volume] does what so few communication texts seem willing to dodiscuss the mediating and communicative aspects of something other than the mas media. […] Most essays in this volume could be characterized as taking a criticalc ultural studies approach, which, next to political economy, is a dominant arena of communications theory and research.

Topia

… a strong volume that gives readers a broad tour through some of the most relevant issues at the intersection of communication and food.

Canadian Food Studies/La revue canadienne des études sur l’alimentation

Table of Contents

1. Acknowledgements
2. Introduction / Charlene Elliott
3. PART I. Food Promotion
   1. 1. Communicating Food Quality: Food, Packaging, and Place / Charlene Elliott and Wayne McCready
   2. 2. The Food Retail Environment in Canada: Shaping What Canadians Eat and How They Communicate About Food / Jordan LeBel
   3. 3. Selling Nutrition: Current Directions in Food Fortification and Nutrition-Related Marketing / Valerie Tarasuk
   4. 4. [insider voice] Edible Canada: The Growth of Culinary Tourism / Eric Pateman and Shannon King
4. PART II. Food and Communication
   1. 5. La cuisinière canadienne: The Cookbook as Communication / Ken Albala
   2. 6. The Dinner Party: Reworking Tradition Through Contemporary Performance / Jacqueline Botterill
   3. 7. Canadian Food Radio: Conjuring Nourishment for Canadians Out of Thin Air / Nathalie Cooke
   4. 8. Of Men and Cupcakes: Baking Identities on Food Network / Irina D. Mihalache
   5. 9. [insider voice] Snapshots of a Canadian Cuisine / Elizabeth Baird
   6. 10. [insider voice] Everybody’s a Critic: A Memoir / John Gilchrist
5. PART III. Food Controversy
   1. 11. Making the “Perfect Food” Safe: The Milk Pasteurization Debate / Catherine Carstairs, Paige Schell, and Sheilagh Quaile
   2. 12. Kraft Dinner® Unboxed: Rethinking Food Insecurity and Food / Melanie Rock
   3. 13. Hipster Hunters and the Discursive Politics of Food Hunting in Canada / Rebecca Carruthers Den Hoed
   4. 14. Lies, Damned Lies, and Locavorism: Bringing Some Truth in Advertising to the Canadian Local Food Debate / Pierre Desrochers
   5. 15. Communication, Crisis, and Contaminated Meat: A Tale of Two Food Scares / Charlene Elliott and Josh Greenberg
   6. 16. Canaries in the Supermarket: Moral Panic, Food Marketing and Children’s Eating / Stephen Kline
   7. 17. “Death on a Plate”: Communicating Food Fears in Modern North America / Harvey Levenstein
6. List of Contributors / Index

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). It may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes, provided that the original author is credited.