Food and the systems that produce, disrupt, prepare it are central to all human life. Yet, scholarly analysis of the food systems that support human life are highly fragmented across a variety of disciplines. Public administration, with its focus on the doing of public policy, would seem to be a logical home for analysis of food systems in action. However, food is largely ignored by public administration scholars, and scholars from other disciplines can unintentionally draw up established public administration literature. The chapters in this edited volume highlight where the lenses and languages of public administration can and should be used to analyze food systems. Viewed collectively, the editors argue that the lenses and languages of public administration can and should become a common ground for scholars and practitioners to discuss food systems.

Presently, ideas about food are in flux from a variety of sources. Examples of this evolution include recognizing the importance of food on health by public health and medical professionals; changing consumer desires around the production methods and components of their food; a greater focus on injustices within the national food system; evolving knowledge of how the food system impacts the environment; and, shifting economic and technological realities that underpin where and how food is produced, distributed and sold. These shifting ideas about food exist in contrast to the narrative of the highly functioning, industrialized, global food system that emerged in the second half of the 20th century. This edited volume fills a void by presenting a comprehensive and engaging coverage of the key issues at the intersection of public health, policy, and food. The Intersection of Food and Public Health is comprised of research that examines current problems in food studies and how various stakeholders are attempting to address problems in unique ways. The book will be of interest to undergraduate and graduate students in a variety of disciplines, including public administration, public policy, public health, economics, political science, nutrition, dietetics, and food studies.