Appetite for Change: How the Counterculture Took On the Food Industry [Paperback]

Warren James Belasco (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 7, 2006 | ISBN-10: 0801473292 | ISBN-13: 978-0801473296 | Edition: 2 Updated

In this engaging inquiry, originally published in 1989 and now fully updated for the twenty-first century, Warren J. Belasco considers the rise of the "countercuisine" in the 1960s, the subsequent success of mainstream businesses in turning granola, herbal tea, and other "revolutionary" foodstuffs into profitable products; the popularity of vegetarian and vegan diets; and the increasing availability of organic foods.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Warren J. Belasco is Professor of American Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. He is the author of Meals to Come: A History of the Future of Food and Americans on the Road: From Autocamp to Motel and the coeditor of Food Nations: Selling Taste in Consumer Societies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press; 2 Updated edition (November 7, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801473292
• ISBN-13: 978-0801473296
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #659,083 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars We are what we eat!, August 23, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Appetite for Change: How the Counterculture Took on the Food Industry (Paperback)

I read this several years ago in an anthropology course and it was truly enlightening. It describes how elements of the counterculture in the 60's came to view the mass production of food as the fundamental basis of industrial economy. They sought to decentralize, communalize and humanize this massive "combine." Unfortunately, they were co-opted, by the giant corporations that today continue to shovel their bitter porridge into our gaping pie holes. This book is more than about food production, but how corporate capitalism manufactures values, and disires and marginalizes those who threaten to provide viable alternatives. An excellent book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This examination considers both sides of the health food industry's rise, March 11, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Appetite for Change: How the Counterculture Took On the Food Industry (Paperback)

APPETITE FOR CHANGE: HOW THE COUNTERCULTURE TOOK ON THE FOOD INDUSTRY appears in its second updated edition to appeal to college-level students of American culture, particular that of the 1960s - as well as students of culinary history. Food and eating habits changed as a result of the social revolution of the 1960s: this examination considers both sides of the health food industry's rise, charts the rise of ethnic cuisine, and establishes strong connections between social movements and eating habits. APPETITE FOR CHANGE originally appeared in 1989 and is updated here to reflect new alternative diets and organic food's rise.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

5.0 out of 5 stars Search for the Authentic, January 26, 2012

By 

Andrew Platek (New York, New York United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Appetite for Change: How the Counterculture Took On the Food Industry (Paperback)

After I finished this book I finally understood the word told to Benjamin Braddock from The Graduate: "Plastics." I assumed the speaker was referring to some staid corporate job, but what I learned from this book is that the word "plastic" to the counterculture ear meant the inauthentic. Around the middle of twentieth century Americans were introduced to a whole different diet of foods. Its what we would call today processed foods but in the counterculture lexicon was dubbed plastic foods, e.g. Cheerios. The organic movement was suppose to be the antithesis of this industrial created food-like substance (to borrow a phrase from Michael Pollan's IN DEFENSE OF FOOD). It was grown on small farms and didn't use chemicals. It was suppose to be eaten in whole food form not processed, dessicated bits. The book is an eye opener on the origins of the organic movement, the consumer activism it spawned, and how corporations and their well-endowed marketing arms tried to steer consumers back to their products by mimicing organic foods, e.g. granola bars that are closer to candy than real granola. I highly recommend it.