The Cambridge Companion to Literature and Food (Cambridge Companions to Literature)

This Companion provides an engaging and expansive overview of gustation, gastronomy, agriculture and alimentary activism in literature from the medieval period to the present day, as well as an illuminating introduction to cookbooks as literature. Bringing together sixteen original essays by leading scholars, the collection rethinks literary food from a variety of critical angles, including gender and sexuality, critical race studies, postcolonial studies, eco-criticism and children's literature. Topics covered include mealtime decorum in Chaucer, Milton's culinary metaphors, early American taste, Romantic gastronomy, Victorian eating, African-American women's culinary writing, modernist food experiments, Julia Child and cold war cooking, industrialized food in children's literature, agricultural horror and farmworker activism, queer cookbooks, hunger as protest and postcolonial legacy, and 'dude food' in contemporary food blogs. Featuring a chronology of key publication and historical dates and a comprehensive bibliography of further reading, this Companion is an indispensible guide to an exciting field for students and instructors. Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 2 Title - Full......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Illustrations......Page 8 Contributors......Page 9 Acknowledgments......Page 13 Chronology of Major Works and Events......Page 14 Introduction: The Literature of Food......Page 26 1 - Medieval Feasts......Page 40 2 - The Art of Early Modern Cookery......Page 54 3 - The Romantic Revolution in Taste......Page 69 4 - The Matter of Early American Taste......Page 83 5 - The Culinary Landscape of Victorian Literature......Page 98 6 - Modernism and Gastronomy......Page 113 7 - Cold War Cooking......Page 126 8 - Farm Horror in the Twentieth Century......Page 141 9 - Queering the Cookbook......Page 156 10 - Guilty Pleasures in Children’s Literature......Page 171 11 - Postcolonial Tastes......Page 186 12 - Black Power in the Kitchen......Page 207 13 - Farmworker Activism......Page 222 14 - Digesting Asian America......Page 240 15 - Postcolonial Foodways in Contemporary African Literature......Page 253 16 - Blogging Food, Performing Gender......Page 268 Selected Guide to Further Reading......Page 287 Index......Page 304 Cambridge Companions to Literature - Series page......Page 311 Introduction: The literature of food / J. Michelle Coghlan -- Medieval feasts / Aaron K. Hostetter -- The art of early modern cookery / Joe Moshenska -- The romantic revolution in taste / Denise Gigante -- The matter of early American taste / Lauren Klein -- The culinary landscape of Victorian literature / Kate Thomas -- Modernism & gastronomy / Allison Carruth -- Cold War cooking / J. Michelle Coghlan -- Farm horror in the twentieth century / Michael Newbury -- Queering the cookbook / Katharina Vester -- Guilty pleasures in children's literature / Catherine Keyser -- Postcolonial tastes / Parama Roy -- Black power in the kitchen / Erica Fretwell -- A farmworker activism / Sarah D. Wald -- Digesting Asian America / Anne Anlin Cheng -- Postcolonial foodways in contemporary African literature / Jonathan Bishop Highfield -- Blogging food, performing gender / Emily Contois "From feasts to fashion, awareness of the medieval quotidian has proven vital to interpreting its literature. Authors and audiences may yearn for transcendence, only to find it rooted to the social world of practice. As Jill Mann reminds us in 1979, a time when patristic, theologically grounded schools of criticism seemed predominant: "The material world is not merely a vehicle for expressing the immaterial, but on the contrary contains the heart of its meaning and its mystery." Allegory is bound inextricably to its literal level. Without a text there is no meaning to be hidden, these signifiers derived from everyday practice. Circumstances of existence-material details, everyday life-pervade author, text, and audience alike, and these are crucial to bridging the interpretive gap between then and now"-- Provided by publisher