Food and Everyday Life in the Postsocialist World [Hardcover]

Melissa L. Caldwell (Editor), Elizabeth C. Dunn (Afterword), Marion Nestle (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 2009

Across the Soviet Union and eastern Europe during the socialist period, food emerged as a symbol of both the successes and failures of socialist ideals of progress, equality, and modernity. By the late 1980s, the arrival of McDonald's behind the Iron Curtain epitomized the changes that swept across the socialist world. Not quite two decades later, the effects of these arrivals were evident in the spread of foreign food corporations and their integration into local communities. This book explores the role played by food—as commodity, symbol, and sustenance—in the transformation of life in Russia and eastern Europe since the end of socialism. Changes in food production systems, consumption patterns, food safety, and ideas about health, well-being, nationalism, and history provide useful perspectives on the meaning of the postsocialist transition for those who lived through it.

(2010)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Food under the repressive Soviet regimes may have been scarce, but at least some survivors of the earlier regime considered it delicious, natural, and healthful. In contrast, while the new Europeanized food may be abundant, many find it artificial and tasteless. As food systems become even more globalized, and more and more developing countries undergo food transitions, the issues discussed in this book become even more widely applicable." —from the foreword

(from the foreword 2010)

"The authors of Food and Everyday Life provide a text that is rich in historical and cultural context and that examines the interactions of the regular people of the old Soviet states in ways that are convincing, thorough, and otherwise mind-blowing." —Counterpoise, Winter/Spring 2010

(Counterpoise )

"By illuminating the ways in which people previously living under state socialism have variously responded to new food markets and regulatory regimes, this volume constitutes an important contribution to post-socialist studies and to the anthropology of food." —Jakob A. Klein, School of Oriental and
African Studies, Jrnl Royal Anthropological Inst JRAI , #16 2010

(Jakob A. Klein, School of Oriental andAfrican Studies Jrnl Royal Anthropological Inst JRAI )

"No advanced students or scholars of the social sciences concerned with globalizing topics and post-socialist states should miss the opportunity to examine this book.... We are fortunate to have such a worthy contribution to food studies and Eurasian anthropology." —The Russian Review

(The Russian Review )

"Food and Everyday Life in the Post-Socialist World is an important contribution and should be of great interest to policymakers and regulatory bodies, as well as students and researchers." —Slavic Review, Vol. 70.2 Summer 2011

(Slavic Review )

"Food and Everyday Life in the Post-Socialist World is a significant contribution to the field of food studies and to the anthropology of post-socialism." —Anthropology of East Europe Review

(Anthropology of East Europe Review )

About the Author

Melissa L. Caldwell is Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is author of Not by Bread Alone: Social Support in the New Russia and editor (with James L. Watson) of The Cultural Politics of Food and Eating.

(2011)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (October 19, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 025335384X
• ISBN-13: 978-0253353849
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,930,868 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)