ABSTRACT
In the last three centuries, industrialization initiated equally significant changes in food habits and social relations. Food and modernity have shared a complex, often troubled relationship. Mass production transformed eating habits, but food also played a crucial role in the rise of industry. Methods of food preparation can also shape gender roles and social hierarchies. Meanwhile, the politics of food provisioning connects rulers to subjects through bonds of trust, or, failing that, through outbursts of violence and food riots. The extensive African influence on the foods of Brazil, the Caribbean, and the southern United States provides a testament to the tenacity of slave cooks in preserving their culture under extreme circumstances. The history of food politics has manifested equally complex patterns. Agrarian societies adopted widely different approaches to guaranteeing urban subsistence, ranging from Confucian and Inca zeal for civil service to classical Mediterranean and Islamic notions of private charity.
