An Overview of Sociological Approaches to Food and Nutrition

Abstract

This chapter argues in support of the emerging field, the sociology of food and nutrition. A skeptic may well ask why sociology needs yet another field, particularly one that has several apparent shortcomings. The first fault is the obvious overlap that such a field would have with rural sociology and medical sociology, and the second is the atheoretical, applied-appearing nature of such a field. I will argue that while the sociology of food and nutrition shares some of the same subject matter as rural sociology and medical sociology, it also encompasses topics left untouched by these two fields.