Food Anthropology - College of Humanities and Sciences

Food Anthropology
By Elizabeth Di Stasio

What is Food Anthropology?
The Anthropology of Food is an analysis of food in culture.
While the primary purpose for food is nutrition, it also has a
cultural dimension by which people choose what they eat not
only by flavor or nutritional value, but by cultural, religious,
historic, economic or social status, and environmental factors.

Society for the Anthropology of Food
and Nutrition –
Overview:
• The Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition (SAFN),
formerly known as the Council on Nutritional Anthropology (CNA),
was organized in 1974 in response to the increased interest in the
interface between social sciences and human nutrition. SAFN has the
following objectives:
• To encourage research and exchange of ideas, theories, methods and
scientific information relevant to understanding the socio-cultural,
behavioral and political-economic factors related to food and nutrition;
• To provide a forum for communication and interaction among scientists
sharing these interests and with other appropriate organizations;
• To promote practical collaboration among social and nutritional
scientists at the fields and program levels.
www.foodanthro.com

Programs in Anthropology of Food –
• Indiana State University
- Masters and PhD program in Anthropology of food
- $21,730.00 a semester – Out of state Graduate tuition
• School of Oriental and African Studies - London
- Masters in Anthropology of Food
- Cost?

Anthropologically-informed Books on
the Topics of Food and Nutrition
• Apple Pie & Enchiladas: Latino Newcomers in
the Rural Midwest.
• Feeding the city. From street market to liberal
reform in Salvador. Brazil. 1780-1860
• The School Food Revolution: Public Food and
the Challenge of Sustainable Development
• Food for Thought: Essays on Eating and Culture

Food Studies Graduate Programs –
• NYU
• Boston University
• Chatham University
• University of Gastronomic Sciences
• University of Adelaide
• Oxford Brooks University
• University of Vermont
• Green Mountains College

Leading Food Anthropologists
• Sidney W. Mintz
– Sidney Mintz has been called our “foremost scholar
on sweetness” for his landmark work on the role of
sugar in the world system.
• Christine M. Du Bois
– Contributing author of The World of Soy

The Food Studies Conference-
• The Food Studies Conference examines the state of interdisciplinary food
studies by focusing on the relationships between traditions and
transformations of foodways and cuisines.
• The Food Studies Conference is looking for papers that examine
questions surrounding food traditions and traditional foodways such as:
- Who decides on the authenticity of “traditional” food and foodways? (
Home cooks? Cookbook authors? Chefs?)
- How do particular foods become associated with nations or peoples?
- How have global food systems impacted local food traditions? (India’s
new vegetarian McDonalds?)