Discoveries in USC libraries

I’m waist-deep in projects this semester, having found an astounding love for the field of Food Studies. Seriously. You can go to graduate school for Food Studies or Gastronomy. My future MBA is quaking in its sensible, better-idea boots.

I discovered the book Food Nations in the Doheney Library, because when navigating the creepy maze of Doheney’s stacks, “discover” or “unearth” are appropriate verbs. The book is a collection of essays about food, but rather than poignant memoirs of a childhood in the kitchen, these essays are hard-hitting academic discourses. “Rituals of Pleasure in the Land of Treasures: Wine Consumption and the Making of French Identity in the Late Nineteenth Century.” “Inventing Baby Food: Gerber and the Discourse of Infancy in the United States.” “Industrial Tortillas and Folkloric Pepsi: The Nutritional Consequences of Hybrid Cuisines in Mexico.”

These essays are fascinating cultural, economic and social explorations, centered around the very real role food plays in these arenas. The introduction by Warren Belasco does more to explain this academic phenomena than I can properly summarize here, providing a sweeping history of how food is integral to our existence, and the methods in which academia and policy address it.

I’m waiting for the semester to be over to delve back into all these books I can’t read for sake of time and research focus. In the mean time, if anyone has great resources on war-time food rationing, food aid to Asia and the green revolution, or McDonald’s and Coca Cola international expansion, holla atcha girl.