Gastronativism

Fabio Parasecoli draws on his deep international experience in this thoughtful analysis of how food gets ensnared in political ideology to separate “us” from “them.” Gastronativism argues convincingly that food systems are indeed global, and the sooner we get those systems to bring people together, the better. – Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health
This timely book clearly shows how foods have become tangible tools for people’s frustrations with global social change. Parasecoli unpacks the ‘gastronativist’ demands and actions of people and communities who use food to score political points, stoke vicious resentment, and resist globalization. His engaging and readable prose helps us understand the bitterness that can season contemporary food politics. – Michaela DeSoucey, author of Contested Tastes: Foie Gras and the Politics of Food
This book coins and explains the concept of gastronativism to help us understand how and why food has transformed into a powerful ideological tool. Using a wide array of timely examples from all over the world, Parasecoli shows how food is increasingly invoked in efforts to construct ideas of an ‘Us’ and a ‘Them,’ offering an important framework for understanding the ways food and identity-making intersect in our globalized world. – Emma McDonell, coauthor of Critical Approaches to Superfoods
[The author] makes the case in this book for why food is so useful as a political too. * Parliament *
One of the strengths of Parasecoli’s far-ranging book is its ability to tie together seemingly disparate food-related phenomena into a coherent pattern through a wealth of examples. * Food Anthropology *
This volume provides great resources, both through its content and its rich bibliography encompassing trade, food studies, political journalism, and heritage studies, and will provide an enlightening read for food studies students, scholars, and even those “cosmopolitan gastronomes” (p.87) among whom many of us likely figure. * Anthropology of Food *
Appealing to a wider audience and demonstrate[s], particularly to those less familiar with food studies and its key arguments and concepts, the political nature of food and the utility of the food lens. * Food and History *

Fabio Parasecoli is professor of food studies in the Nutrition and Food Studies Department at New York University. He is the author of Food (2019), coauthor of Feasting Our Eyes: Food Films and Cultural Identity in the United States (Columbia, 2016), and coeditor of Global Brooklyn: Designing Food Experiences in World Cities (2021), among other books.

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