Adding to the endless "To Read" list

Some food related books I'll read...one day.

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As you’ll know from my former essay, “Eating in Transit (and eating in place),” I took a brief trip to Boston early last month for an academic conference.

I ate many bagels on this trip and was very happy about it.

One of my favourite things about academic conferences are what I think of as the nerdier adult version of a Scholastic Book Fair where either a bunch of presses set up shop with a selection of relevant releases, or where a distributor sets up with a display of those relevant books.

One of my favourite activities when visiting new places is also browsing independent bookstores. Featured displays, staff recommendations, stack organization, even the event posters in the windows, offer a glimmer of who makes up the community and what that community cares about.

So, between the conference book fair and my bookstore visits my To-Read list has grown. I’ll share the food-related editions here as well as a few other newer releases that I’ve been really excited about but have yet to read!

A note on access—Those of you who have access to a university library as students or alumni, check to see which are available via your institution. Since the beginning of the pandemic SO MANY books have become available online and for download through your university library. I’ve included a * beside the titles that are available online and can be downloaded in their entirety through McMaster’s library network. ** means the title is available online but can only be partially downloaded through McMaster’s library network.

It’s too bad I, a person with access to McMaster’s library catalogue, cannot download these titles and send them to you so definitely don’t email me at melissa.a.montanari@gmail.com about it.

1. Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness by Da’Shaun L. Harrison.

   

2. Allergic Intimacies: Food, Disability, Desire, and Risk by Michael Gill*

3. Anxious Eaters: Why We Fall for Fad Diets by Janet Chrzan and Kima Cargill

4. Acquired Tastes: Stories About the Origins of Modern Food edited by Benjamin R. Cohen, Michael S. Kideckel, and Anna Zeide.*

5. Black Food Geographies: Race, Self-Reliance, and Food Access in Washington, D.C. by Ashanté M. Reese.

6. Canadian Literary Fare by Nathalie Cooke and Shelley Boyd with Alexia Moyer. **

7. Delicious: The Evolution of Flavour and How it Made Us Human by Rob Dunn and Monica Sanchez

8. Discomfort Food: The Cultural Imagination in Late Nineteenth Century French Art by Marni Reva Kessler **

9. Food Studies: A Hands On Guide by Willa Zhen

10. Spoiled: The Myth of Milk as Superfood by Anne Mendelson*

11. Subsistence Under Capitalism: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives edited by James Murton, Dean Bavington, and Carly Dokis**

12. Small Fires: An Epic in the Kitchen by

    Rebecca May Johnson

13. Ingredients for Revolution: A History of American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses by Alex D. Ketchum.

14. No Meat Required: The Cultural History & Culinary Future of Plant-Based Eating by

    Alicia Kennedy
    (Release Date: August 15, 2023) Hamilton people, I preordered my copy through King West Books.

    I’d love to hear what’s on your To-Read list.

Consuming 

Novels I finished in June:

• Woman Eating by Claire Kohda (cw: disordered eating)

  • A contemporary vampire story set in London. The vampire character is also a mixed species, mixed race up and coming artist.

• What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

  • A queer retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” with so many spooky fungi.

Food:

Strathcona Market in Hamilton recently started carrying Honey’s vegan ice cream and I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten most of their stock.