An Edible History of Humanity

In 2006, author and investigative journalist Michael Pollan published The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals, the first of many works by Pollan on how people think about and interact with food. In The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Pollan argues that industrialization has taken over the American diet to the detriment of health and culture. That same year, film director Richard Linklater and writer Eric Schlosser drew attention to the dangerous hold of the fast-food industry on American health in Fast Food Nation. These works and others represented growing concerns about the prevalence of processed foods in American diets and the influence of capitalism and industrialization on the types of foods appearing on plates across the globe. Although Pollan, Linklater, and Schlosser were not the first to examine the complex interactions among people, food, history, health, and economics, their work brought international attention to a growing field: food studies.

Food studies is an area of research still in its infancy that explores the history and issues of food production and consumption through multiple lenses. The field blends critical academic writing with popular works to confront questions about the ethics of food, the relationship between humans and the natural world, and the influence of wealth and politics on the human diet. The possibilities for writing and researching within food studies are endless. Imagine a single meal from start to finish, allowing each element of the experience to invite a question: When did humans begin sitting communally at tables to eat? What is the history of a fork, spoon, or chopstick? Where was this food grown? How did it get here? What cultures influenced this dish? Food studies illuminate something that humans often take for granted because it is such an elemental part of human life. The meals found on modern tables invite an infinite number of critical inquiries.

Many works in food studies take a microhistorical approach, focusing on a single food item or cuisine and examining its many nuances. In John T. Edge’s The Potlikker Papers: A Food History of the Modern South, the staples of the American South—dishes like greens, grits, cornbread—tell the story of American slavery and the African diaspora. Microhistorical food writing is abundant, including Rebecca Rupp’s How Carrots Won the Trojan War and Stewart Lee Allen’s In the Devil's Garden: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food; many dishes and even individual ingredients have received an in-depth look. In short, food studies encompasses a wide range of focused and thoughtful examinations of what humans eat and the contexts that inform their diets.

In the Introduction of Tom Standage’s An Edible History of Humanity, Standage explains that his work will not fall under the category of microhistorical writing: “This account does not claim that any single food holds the key to understanding history” (xii). Standage takes a broader view, dissecting the complex interactions between power and food. He shows how agriculture created space for hierarchical societal structures and how domesticated plants and animals participate in a relationship of mutuality with humans. Macrohistorical approaches like Standage’s trace patterns and trends through broader spans of time, drawing conclusions about large processes and structures. In the work, Standage also criticizes overly simple solutions to complex food problems, including the advocacy of some writers like Michael Pollan that people should adhere to a local diet. For Standage, it is vital to consider the big picture of how people and plants affect one another.