Volume editorial board: Leen Van Molle (University of Leuven, Belgium), Yves Segers (University of Leuven, Belgium) (directors) John Chartres (University of Leeds, UK), Marc de Ferriere le Vayer (University of Tours, France), Pim Kooij (Wageningen University, Netherlands), Michael Kopsidis(IAMO, Halle (Saale), Bjorn Poulsen (Aarhus University, Denmark), Jean-Pierre Williot (University of Tours, France) Agriculture and nourishment are, from early times and up to now, crucial elements in the development of market systems. Shortage and surplus gave shape to different forms of exchange and sale, to the dynamics of supply and demand, and to expanding interconnections between regions and social groups. Farmers learned to adapt their production to market conditions and to the shifting needs and tastes of a growing and demanding public. But the path from a self-supporting way of life to the present forms of market integration in the complex, global world was far from uniform and linear. Food production, market structures and market mechanisms changed over time and differed between regions and countries of the North Sea area. This volume aims at exploring and unravelling the complexity of the agro-food market, from the field to the table.

Embedded in the quest for ways to preserve and promote heritage of any kind and, in particular, food heritage, is an appreciation or a sense of an impending loss of a particular way of life - knowledge, skills set, traditions -- deemed vital to the survival of a culture or community. Foodways places the production, procurement, preparation and sharing or consumption of food at an intersection among culture, tradition, and history. Thus, foodways is an important material and symbolic marker of identity, race and ethnicity, gender, class, ideology and social relations. Urban Foodways and Communication seeks to enrich our understanding of unique foodways in urban settings around the world as forms of intangible cultural heritage. Each ethnographic case study focuses its analysis on how the featured foodways manifests itself symbolically through and in communication. The book helps advance our knowledge of urban food heritages in order to contribute to their appreciation, preservation, and promotion.