Food and the Self Materializing Culture

the long version

We often hear that selves are no longer formed through producing material things at work, but consuming them in leisure, leading to 'meaningless' modern lives. This important book reveals the cultural shift to be more complex, demonstrating how people strive to form meaningful selves through both the consumption and production of material culture in leisure. Focusing on the material culture of food, the book explores these theoretical questions through ethnography of those for whom food is central to their self: 'foodies'. It examines what foodies do, and why they do it, through an in-depth study of their lived experiences. It uncovers how food offers a means of shaping the self not as a consumer but as an amateur who engages in both the production and consumption of material culture, taking a professional approach which reveals the moralities of productive leisure in self-formation. The chapters examine a variety of practices, from fine dining and shopping to cooking and blogging, including rare data on how people use media such as cookbooks, food television, and digital food media in their everyday life.