Cooking, cuisine, and class: a study in comparative sociology Goody, Jack

By:

Goody, Jack

Material type: Text

TextSeries: Themes in the social sciencesPublication details: Cambridge Cambridge University Press 1982Description: viii, 253 p. ill. ; 24 cmISBN:

9780521286961

Subject(s):

DDC classification:

641.5 G6C6

Summary: The preparation, serving and eating of food are common features of all human societies, and have been the focus of study for numerous anthropologists - from Sir James Frazer onwards - from a variety of theoretical and empirical perspectives. It is in the context of this previous anthropological work that Jack Goody sets his own observations on cooking in West Africa. He criticises those approaches which overlook the comparative historical dimension of culinary, and other, cultural differences that emerge in class societies, both of which elements he particularly emphasises in this book. The central question that Professor Goody addresses here is why a differentiated 'haute cuisine' has not emerged in Africa, as it has in other parts of the world. His account of cooking in West Africa is followed by a survey of the culinary practices of the major Eurasian societies throughout history - ranging from Ancient Egypt, Imperial Rome and medieval China to early modern Europe - in which he relates the differences in food preparation and consumption emerging in these societies to differences in their socio-economic structures, specifically in modes of production and communication. He concludes with an examination of the world-wide rise of 'industrial food' and its impact on Third World societies, showing that the ability of the latter to resist cultural domination in food, as in other things, is related to the nature of their pre-existing socio-economic structures. The arguments presented here will interest all social scientists and historians concerned with cultural history and social theory. Table of Contents List of illustrations Preface 1. Intentions and remarks 2. State of play 3. Production and consumption among the LoDagaa and Gonja of northern Ghana 4. The high and the low: culinary culture in Asia and Europe 5. Industrial food: towards the development of a world cuisine 6. The impact of the world system 7. Cooking and the domestic economy Appendix Notes to the text Bibliography Index.

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Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Book	Ahmedabad	Non-fiction	641.5 G6C6 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Available		189806

Total holds: 0

The preparation, serving and eating of food are common features of all human societies, and have been the focus of study for numerous anthropologists - from Sir James Frazer onwards - from a variety of theoretical and empirical perspectives. It is in the context of this previous anthropological work that Jack Goody sets his own observations on cooking in West Africa. He criticises those approaches which overlook the comparative historical dimension of culinary, and other, cultural differences that emerge in class societies, both of which elements he particularly emphasises in this book. The central question that Professor Goody addresses here is why a differentiated 'haute cuisine' has not emerged in Africa, as it has in other parts of the world. His account of cooking in West Africa is followed by a survey of the culinary practices of the major Eurasian societies throughout history - ranging from Ancient Egypt, Imperial Rome and medieval China to early modern Europe - in which he relates the differences in food preparation and consumption emerging in these societies to differences in their socio-economic structures, specifically in modes of production and communication. He concludes with an examination of the world-wide rise of 'industrial food' and its impact on Third World societies, showing that the ability of the latter to resist cultural domination in food, as in other things, is related to the nature of their pre-existing socio-economic structures. The arguments presented here will interest all social scientists and historians concerned with cultural history and social theory.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations
Preface
1. Intentions and remarks
2. State of play
3. Production and consumption among the LoDagaa and Gonja of northern Ghana
4. The high and the low: culinary culture in Asia and Europe
5. Industrial food: towards the development of a world cuisine
6. The impact of the world system
7. Cooking and the domestic economy
Appendix
Notes to the text
Bibliography
Index.

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