Introduction

This chapter begins with a discussion of Suzanne Lacy and Linda Pruess's The International Dinner Party (1979), in relation to the broader history of feminist art practices in Los Angeles and in light of the thematic use of food by women artists in their practices during the era of the “Women's Liberation Movement.” This chapter then outlines the methodology and scope of this study, and summarizes the chapters that are to follow. As such, this chapter demonstrates how this book unsettles the often-monolithic understanding of feminism in this era and to consider the complicated and often contradictory issues that arise within the feminisms of a group of women from a single demographic and how the lens of feminist food studies helps to facilitate such an analysis.