The last 20 years have seen a burgeoning of social scientific and historical research on food. The field has drawn in experts to investigate topics such as: the way globalisation affects the food supply; what cookery books can (and cannot) tell us; changing understandings of famine; the social meanings of meals - and many more. Now sufficiently extensive to require a critical overview, this is the first handbook of specially commissioned essays to provide a tour d'horizon of this broad range of topics and disciplines. The editors have enlisted eminent researchers across the social sciences to illustrate the debates, concepts and analytic approaches of this widely diverse and dynamic field. This volume will be essential reading, a ready-to-hand reference book surveying the state of the art for anyone involved in, and actively concerned about research on the social, political, economic, psychological, geographic and historical aspects of food. It will cater for all who need to be informed of research that has been done and that is being done.

The Hawaiian pineapple industry emerged in the late nineteenth century as part of an attempt to diversify the Hawaiian economy from dependence on sugar cane as its only staple industry. Here, economic historian Richard Hawkins presents a definitive history of an industry from its modest beginnings to its emergence as a major contributor to the American industrial narrative. He traces the rise and fall of the corporate giants who dominated the global canning world for much of the twentieth century. Drawing from a host of familiar economic models and an unparalleled body of research, Hawkins analyses the entrepreneurial development and twentieth-century migration of the pineapple canning industry in Hawaii. The result is not only a comprehensive history, but also a unique story of American innovation and ingenuity amid the rising tides of globalization.

In this fascinating history, Jeffrey Rothfeder tells how, from a simple idea - the outgrowth of a handful of peppers planted on an isolated island on the Gulf of Mexico - a secretive family business emerged that would produce one of the best-known products in the world. In short order, McIlhenny's descendants would turn Tabasco into a gold mine and an icon of pop culture, making it as recognisable as far bigger brands such as Coca-Cola and Kleenex.To this day, the McIlhenny Co., still run by a family of matchless characters who believe in a rigid code of family loyalty, clings to tradition and the old ways of doing business. Yet by fiercely protecting its beloved brand and refusing to sell out to big food conglomerates, this family business has run circles around its competitors, churning out annual revenues that have surpassed everyone's expectations. A satisfying read for business buffs, "McIlhenny's Gold" is the untold story of the continuing success of an eccentric, private company; a lively history of one of the most popular consumer products of all times.

Focusing on the interactions of producers, sellers and consumers of meat across the world, Richard Perren elucidates aspects of the evolution of the international economy and the part played by the investment of capital and the enterprise of individuals. The study utilises the government reports and papers issued by all countries involved in the meat trade, including North and South America, Australia, New Zealand and Britain. Beginning in the nineteenth century allows a comprehensive analysis of how an efficient meat exporting industry was built. The industry required investment, which was part of the general process of economic development. Perren focuses on the nature of the firms involved with the trade, the part played in the industry's development by foreign investment and the encouragement given by governments. Close attention is also paid to the stimulus of war, the impact of animal health and food hygiene regulations on producers and the competing demands of interest groups involved in the food businesses. By taking an historical as well as a contemporary approach, the book contributes to the current discussion on the effectiveness of animal and meat inspection in identifying farm livestock diseases such as tuberculosis and BSE. This study advances our knowledge of the process of food distribution in the industrialising and post-industrial economies, and leads to a comprehensive understanding of an important component of the international food chain.

This second volume of Reviews in Food and Nutrition Toxicity follows on directly from the successes of the first volume published last year. This series disseminates important data pertaining to food and nutrition safety and toxicology that is relevant to humans. Chapters in this series extend from the introduction of toxins in the manufacture or production of artificial food substances, to the ingestion of microbial contaminants or toxins and the cellular or physiological changes that arise. The present volume has a broad range chapters reviewing contaminants in beer, the effects of alcohol on the intestine, ciguatera fish poisoning, hepatitis A, beta-nitropropionic acid, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, bacterial toxins, pesticide toxicity, polyhalogenated and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and a survey of contamination episodes. Each chapter is written by experts with supportive tables and figures. These concise and informative articles should stimulate a scientific dialogue. Food production processes and nutritional or dietary habits are continually changing and it is important to learn from past lessons and embrace a multidisciplinary approach. For example, some cellular mechanisms elucidated by studying one toxin may also be relevant to other areas of food pathology. Therefore it is the intention of the Editors to impart such comprehensive information in a single series, namely Reviews in Food and Nutrition Toxicity.

In 1998, a National Academy of Sciences panel called for an integrated, risk-based food safety system. This goal is widely embraced, but there has been little advance in thinking about how to integrate knowledge about food safety risks into a system- wide risk analysis framework. Such a framework is the essential scientific basis for better priority setting and resource allocation to improve food safety. Sandra Hoffmann and Michael Taylor bring together leading scientists, risk analysts, and economists, as well as experienced regulators and policy analysts, to better define the priority setting problem and focus on the scientific and intellectual resources available to construct a risk analysis framework for improving food safety. Toward Safer Food provides a common starting point for discussions about how to construct this framework. The book includes a multi-disciplinary introduction to the existing data, research, and methodological and conceptual approaches on which a system-wide risk analysis framework must draw. It also recognizes that efforts to improve food safety will be influenced by the current institutional context, and provides an overview of the ways in which food safety law and administration affect priority setting. Hoffman and Taylor intend their book to be accessible to people from a wide variety of backgrounds. At the same time, they retain the core conceptual sophistication needed to understand the challenges that are inherent in improving food safety. The editors hope that this book will help the U.S. move beyond a call for an integrated, risk-based system toward its actual construction.

Proteins, Pathologies and Politics presents an international and historical approach to dietary change and health, contrasting current concerns with how issues such as diabetes, cancer, vitamins, sugar and fat, and food allergies were perceived in the 19th and 20th centuries. Though what we eat and what we shouldn't eat has become a topic of increased scrutiny in the current century, the link between dietary innovation and health/disease is not a new one. From new fads in foodstuffs, through developments in manufacturing and production processes, to the inclusion of additives and evolving agricultural practices changing diet, changes often promised better health only to become associated with the opposite. With contributors including Peter Scholliers, Francesco Buscemi, Clare Gordon Bettencourt, and Kirsten Gardner, this collection comprises the best scholarship on how we have perceived diet to affect health. The chapters consider: - the politics and economics of dietary change - the historical actors involved in dietary innovation and the responses to it - the extent that our dietary health itself a cultural construct, or even a product of history This is a fascinating and varied study of how our diets have been shaped and influenced by perceptions of health and will be of great value to students of history, food history, nutrition science, politics and sociology.

This is a biography of Clarence Birdseye, the eccentric genius inventor whose fast-freezing process revolutionized the food industry and American agriculture.

Globalization has become perhaps the most central--and one of the most contested--terms in the social sciences in the present day. If one wishes to understand the conditions in which different groups of people live today, it seems increasingly impossible to ignore the aspects of those conditions that are seen to be characterized, or influenced, by "global" forces, movements and phenomena. Regarding particular phenomena, no matter how apparently "local" or parochial in nature, as being located within "global" flows or systems or structures, seems today to be a very necessary component of any effective sort of social investigation. Many social scientific scholars in the last decade or so have engaged in a "global turn" in their thinking, investigating key areas and facets of human life--such as work, economy, cities, politics, and media--in terms of how these are being affected, influenced and changed by (what can be taken to be) "globalizing forces." Themes of inter-societal, trans-societal and cross-planetary connections, structures, processes and movements are increasingly central across the social sciences, including sociology, anthropology, geography, political science, economics, international relations, and many humanities disciplines too. Moreover, such themes--and the controversies and polemics often attached to them--have become common currency in many spheres outside the academy, with politicians, businesspeople, political activists and citizens of all varieties taking up ideas associated with "globalization," and deploying them both to make sense of, and also sometimes to try to change, the world around them. This book covers the issues of globalization as they relate to food. Contributors include Carole Counihan, Alan Warde, Pat Caplan, Alex McIntosh, Rick Wilk, Jeff Sobal, Marianne Lien and Krishnendu Ray.

Completely updated for 2020, Food and Beverage Market Place contains more information than ever before, including thousands of new entries, and enhancements to many existing entries. This 2019 edition offers completely revised and greatly expanded Food Product Category and Supplier Product Category Indexes - finding a product or service has never been easier. With over 40,000 companies, 80,000+ key executive contacts and in-depth product categories Food & Beverage Market Place lets you find the products, services and new clients required to operate your business - quicker and easier than ever before.

Completely updated for 2018, Food and Beverage Market Place contains more information than ever before, including thousands of new entries, and enhancements to many existing entries. This 2014 edition offers completely revised and greatly expanded Food Product Category and Supplier Product Category Indexes - finding a product or service has never been easier. With over 40,000 companies, 80,000+ key executive contacts and in-depth product categories Food & Beverage Market Place lets you find the products, services and new clients required to operate your business - quicker and easier than ever before.

Completely updated for 2018, Food and Beverage Market Place contains more information than ever before, including thousands of new entries, and enhancements to many existing entries. This 2014 edition offers completely revised and greatly expanded Food Product Category and Supplier Product Category Indexes - finding a product or service has never been easier. With over 40,000 companies, 80,000+ key executive contacts and in-depth product categories Food & Beverage Market Place lets you find the products, services and new clients required to operate your business - quicker and easier than ever before.