Eating Anxiety: The Perils of Food Politics

Eating Anxiety argues that our culture’s obsession with diet, obesity, meat, and local foods enacts ideological and biopolitical responses to perceived threats to both individual and national sovereignty. Exploring discourses of food politics, Chad Lavin links the concerns of food—especially issues of sustainability, public health, and inequality—to the evolution of the world order and the possibilities for democratic rule. EATING ANXIETY: The Perils of Food Politics 1 CONTENTS 6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 8 INTRODUCTION: Food Politics in the Twilight of Sovereignty 10 CHAPTER 1: DIET AND AMERICAN IDEOLOGY 36 CHAPTER 2: EATING ALONE 58 CHAPTER 3: THE DIGESTIVE TURN IN POLITICAL THOUGHT 82 CHAPTER 4: RESPONSIBILITY AND DISEASE IN OBESITY POLITICS 106 CHAPTER 5: THE YEAR OF EATING POLITICALLY 128 CHAPTER 6: THE MEAT WE DON’T EAT 150 CONCLUSION: Democracy and Disgust 170 NOTES 190 INDEX 224 A 224 B 225 C 227 D 229 E 230 F 231 G 233 H 234 I 235 J 236 K 236 L 236 M 237 N 239 O 239 P 240 R 242 S 243 T 246 U 246 V 246 W 247 Y 247