ABSTRACT
Representation is a central issue within cultural studies. As John Fiske suggests, ‘all representations must have a politics’, and it is the task of cultural studies to interrogate the nature of these politics (1989: 191). As we argued in Chapter 4, cultural studies has identified a ‘cultural circuit’ through which any analysis of cultural forms and practices must pass. We have already demonstrated the significance of processes of consumption and identity to this circuit. Here we concern ourselves with practices of signification. Over the course of the next two chapters, we will be concerned with the manner in which food is represented in two textual forms: in the following chapter, television representations of cooking; and in this chapter, food in print.
