Food Matters: A Short History of Food

The study of food and society is immense and complicated. Food, quite literally, sustains us. Yet a significant sociological question involves why, for some folks, food is largely taken for granted and for others is a constant source of anxiety and concern. Food and foodways connect us to one another in families, in friendship groups, in ethnic groups, indeed in countless rituals of sociality. Food is intimately intertwined with economic, religious, medical, and political institutions as well as situated within the natural environment.

 Studying food and food systems can help us understand ourselves in our own social and historical context–the essence of using a “sociological imagination.” In this seminar, we will sketch the emergence of the industrialized food system that has shaped bodies, behaviors, and cultures since the early twentieth century, and which has increasingly been scrutinized for its relationship to some of our most pressing social problems in the first quarter of the twenty-first century. Many food scholars and activists agree that we are at an important historical moment that will shape the future of food. Recommended reading: Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual. Michael Pollan. Penguin, 2009. Recommended film: Food, Inc. 2, 2023.

Laura L. O’Toole is a sociologist who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Delaware and has served both as an academic dean and a teaching professor at Salve Regina University prior to retiring from full-time teaching in 2022. Dr. O’Toole specializes in sociological theory, gender studies, food studies, and public sociology and has taught, published, and presented in these areas for over 30 years. She is also a certified Master Gardener with the University of Rhode Island Cooperative Extension service and has served on numerous community boards, most recently of Aquidneck Community Table and the New England Faculty Development Consortium.