Food Matters provides insightful readings and engaging prompts that examine the complexities of our food infrastructure through a diverse lens to challenge you to think deeply about the role food plays in our society and how it intertwines with our culture and identity.

[[New selections are marked with an asterisk]]

About The Bedford Spotlight Reader Series

Preface for Instructors

Contents by Discipline

Contents by Theme

Contents by Rhetorical Purpose

Chapter 1: What Is the Purpose of Food?

Michael Pollan, Eat Food: Food Defined

Eric Schlosser, Why the Fries Taste Good

Jill McCorkle, Her Chee-to Heart

Marion Nestle, Eating Made Simple

Wendell Berry, The Pleasures of Eating

Lily Wong, Eating the Hyphen

*Samin Nosrat, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat

Chapter 2: What Forces Affect Our Food Choices?

United States Government, Nutritional Guidelines

Dhruv Khullar, Why Shame Won’t Stop Obesity

Joe Pinsker, Why So Many Rich Kids Come to Enjoy the Taste of Healthier Foods

Barry Yeoman, The Hidden Resilience of “Food Desert” Neighborhoods

Taffy Brodresser-Akner, Why I’ve Never Learned How to Cook

Stephen Satterfield, I’m a Black Food Writer. Here’s Why We Need More Like Me

Thich Nhat Hanh and Lilian Cheung, Are You Really Appreciating the Apple?

*U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Dietary Intakes Compared to Recommendations: Percent of the U.S. Population Ages 1 and Older Who Are Below and At or Above Each Dietary Goal

*David Freedman, Science Says Everything You Know about Food, Diet, and Drugs Is Wrong

Chapter 3: What Does It Mean to Eat Ethically on a Changing Planet?

Barbara Kingsolver, You Can’t Run Away on Harvest Day

Bill McKibben, The Only Way to Have a Cow

Donald L. Bartlett and James B. Steele, Monsanto’s Harvest of Fear

Yuval Noah Harari, Industrial Farming Is One of the Worst Crimes in History

Blake Hurst, The Omnivore’s Delusion: Against the Agri-intellectuals

Jonathan A. Foley, Can We Feed the World and Sustain the Planet?

Georgina Gustin, Can a Climate Conscious Diet Include Meat or Dairy?

Bren Smith, The Least Deadly Catch: Ocean Farming in the Climate Change Era

*Katherine Wu, The Sriracha Shortage Is a Very Bad Sign

Chapter 4: What Is the Importance of Food Justice?

*Ligaya Mishan, The Activists Working to Remake the Food System

Richard Marosi, Hardship on Mexico’s Farms, a Bounty for U.S. Tables

*Bennet Goldstein, Queering the Family Farm: Meet the LGBTQ Midwest Farmers Taking Food Justice Into Their Own Hands

*Katelyn Yee, Black-led Food Co-ops Restore Justice Hope, and Power

*Psyche Williams-Forson, In “Trouble” With(out) Culture: Food Shaming and African-American Foodways

*Leilani Marie Labong, Envisioning Indigenous Food Sovereignty as “a Whole Ecosystem”

*S.E. Smith, Disabled People Carry Bigger Food Access Burdens

*Lela Nargi, Hungry Seniors Need More Than Just Access to Food

Chapter 5: What Is the Future of Food?

Joon Yun, David Kessler, and Dan Glickman, We Need Better Answers on Nutrition

Frances Moore Lappé, Biotechnology Isn’t the Key to Feeding the World

Selina Wang, The Future of Farming is Looking Up

David Biello, Will Organic Food Fail to Feed the World?

*Bob Brody, Why I Eat Smarter Now That I’m Older

*Jamaal Lemon, Come Hell or High Water - Oysters, Brewing, and How the Come Yahs & Bin Yahs Could End Sea Level Rise in Charleston

*Alex Beggs, What Dinner Will Look Like in the Next 100 Years, According to Scientists (and Sci-Fi Authors)

*Chidinma Iwu, What Nigeria Can Teach the U.S. About Food Insecurity

*Chad Frischmann and Mamta Mehra, Massively Reducing Food Waste Could Feed the World

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